
FT MEADE 
GenCol1 

















COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 




































































































































9 




















M 






i f < 


. •# 


































ALBERT WHITMAN 6? COMPANY 

CHICAGO 1940 ILLINOIS 

t 6 °P1 



THE BLUE BUTTERFLY 

Gael to South Ame/uca 

By RUTH H. Pictures By 

HUTCHINSON KURT WIESE 



HOW TO SAY THE SPANISH WORDS 


Ah 


4> I 


GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Argentina ( Ar-hdn-te'nd ) Pan de Azucar (Paw de A-thdo-kdr) 

Brazil ( Brd-thel') Rio de Janeiro ( Re-o de Hd-na'e-ro) 

Buenos Aires ( Bivd-nos A'e-ras) Santos ( Sdn-tos ) 

Corcovado (Kor-kd-va'dd) Sao Paulo ( Sd-d Pa'do-ld) 

Montevideo ( Mon-td-ve-da'o) Uruguay (Od-rdo-gwa'e) 

STREETS AND BUILDINGS 


Co 


Avenida de Mayo ( A-va-ne'dd de Md-yd) Casa Rosada ( Ka-sa Rd-sa'da) 
Calle Florida ( Kd-llya Flo-re'dd) Congreso ( Kon-grd-sd ) 


Blanca ( Bldn-kd ) 
Caballito ( Kd-bd-Uye-to) 
Chin-Chin ( Chen-Chen) 
Elenita ( A-ld-ne'td) 
Estrellita ( As-trd-llye'td) 


PROPER NAMES 

Juancito ( Hwan-the-to ) 
Maria ( Ma-re'a) 
Mercedes ( Mar-tha'das) 
Pedro ( Pa'dro ) 


RANCH NAMES 

Lago Chico ( Ld-go Che'ko) Lago de los Patos ( La-go de los Pd'tos) 

Lago Grande ( La-go Gran'da) Tres Lagos ( Trds La-gos) 


SALUTATIONS 

Buenos Dias ( Bwd-nos De'ds) 

Buenas Noches ( Bwd-nas No'chds) 

COMMON WORDS 


afuera ( a-fwa'ra) 
asado ( d-sd-do ) 
brasero ( brd-sd-ro ) 
caballo del diablo ( kd-bd'Uyo del de- 
a'blo) 

cabello de angel ( kd-bd-llyd de an-hal) 

cafe con leche ( kd-fd' con 

la'chd) 

campo ( kam-po ) 
cerro ( tha'ro) 

conventillo ( kon-van-te-llyd ) 
correos ( kor-ra'os ) 
dia de fiesta ( de-a de fe-as-ta) 
dulce de membrillo ( dool-tha de mdm- 
bre-Uyo) 

estancia (as-tan-the-a) 
ferrocarril ( far-ro-kar-rel ) 


Buenas Tardes ( Biva-nds Tar-das) 
Feliz Navidad ( Fd-leth Nd-ve-ddd) 

WORDS 

garbanzos ( gar-ban-thos ) 
gaucho ( ga'od-cho ) 
gracias ( grd'the-ds) 
granada ( grd-nd-da ) 
mate ( md-td ) 
mosquitero ( mos-ke-ta'ro ) 
perro ( pdr-ro) 
persianas ( par-se-d'nas) 
puchero (pod-chd-rd) 
nena (nd-na) 
nene (nd-na) 
senor (sa-nyor') 
sefiora (sd-nyo'-ra) 
senorita (sd-nyo-re-td) 
siesta ( se-ds'ta) 
sombreros ( som-brd'-rds) 
tambo (tdm'bo) 


foci/S 


RECEIVED 
OCT 2 11340 
COPYRIGHT OFFICE 

Copyright, 1940, by 
Albert Whitman & Company 


40 ' 


33 ^*/ 


147314 


Lithographed, in the UJ5.A. 






CONTENTS 


Early Morning. 5 

A Surprise. 8 

Preparations .12 

A Train Ride.15 

New York City.20 

On the Atlantic.27 

On to Buenos..43 

Uncle Nick.53 

Getting Acquainted.65 

Morning in Buenos Aires.72 

Afternoon .80 

Tres Lagos .93 















Along the Rio de la Plata 


*r. : :£§g 


~^* k +. 










P ATTY wriggled and stretched sleepily. She always liked 
this early morning world. 

Her half-open eyes saw the gray light of dawn creeping 
into the big dormitory where she slept in one of a row of narrow 
white beds. 

Her feet and legs were warm and cozy so that one part of 
her wanted to stay where it was—in the little warm space down 
there under the covers. 

Her arms and shoulders had tossed the blankets aside during 
the night as always, so that the other part of her wished it were 
time to get up. Then Miss Penny would come in and close the 
windows. 


EARLY MORNING 


5 


With half of her mind she wanted to think about Petey, asleep 
across the hall in the boys’ dormitory. She wondered if his cold 
were better or worse, and if he would be as cross this morning 
as he was last night when she had tried to help him scrub his 
grimy hands. 

The other half wanted to forget all about Petey, his grimy 
hands, and to watch the blue butterfly come alive there on the 
wall as the morning light brightened the room. 

The blue butterfly hung in a little frame over one of the 
chests of drawers that stood against the wall opposite Patty’s bed. 

Each little girl was allowed to hang some cherished picture 
or card over there on the wall across from her bed. 

Florence, whose bed was next to Patty’s, had a picture of a 
ship on which her big brother was serving in the Navy. Over 
the picture of the ship hung a tiny flag of real silk which Flor¬ 
ence’s brother had given to her when he paid a short visit to the 
Home. 

Before this visit, Florence had boasted about her big brother 
and all the strange places from which he had sent her postcards. 
But Patty had always been able to out-talk her with tales of her 
Uncle Nick who lived in South America—not visited or traveled 
there, but actually lived in that strange, far away place. After her 
brother’s visit, Florence always said, “I don’t believe you have 
any Uncle Nick! He never came to see you, did he?” 

So Patty could only swallow hard and point to the blue but¬ 
terfly which Uncle Nick had sent her from South America. 

Patty turned her eyes, wide open now, toward the blue but¬ 
terfly. 

The room was quite light now. There it hung, the brightest, 
loveliest spot in all that bare room! 

Sometimes, if Patty half closed her eyes and looked through 
her lashes, the blue butterfly seemed to shimmer and tremble as 
if it were about to move its gauzy wings. 

6 


Just so, she thought, if she looked through half-closed eyes 
long enough and kept still enough, perhaps when the blue but¬ 
terfly began to shimmer and tremble, it might really flutter its 
wings as if about to fly. Surely that would mean something very 
wonderful and unusual was about to happen. 

So she lowered her lids a little more, and, shutting out all 
other thoughts, gazed steadily at the bright spot on the wall which 
was the blue butterfly. It shimmered and glistened, now large, 
now small; now near, now far; until Patty all of a sudden sat 
bolt upright and rubbed her eyes. Surely it had lifted one deli¬ 
cate wing a wee little bit in a flying motion? 

Just then the door to the hall slammed loudly, and all the 
girls began to stir and stretch as Miss Penny came in from the 
hall. When she had opened the door a strong draft from the 
open windows had seized it and slammed it shut behind her. In 
a freshly starched uniform that rustled as she walked, she said, 
“Good morning, girls,” quite in her usual voice, and went about 
closing the windows. 

Patty was the first to jump out of bed, ready to meet what this 
unusual day might bring. For her, the blue butterfly had lifted 
one wing, and almost waved it at her. 

Of course, it might have been the door slamming that had 
made everything in the room jump, but Patty would not think of 
that just now. 


\ 




A SURPRISE 

Patty forgot all about the blue butterfly in the hurry of get¬ 
ting herself and Petey washed and dressed. 

When they reached the dining room, most of the children 
were already in their places. Patty knotted the corner of Petey’s 
napkin, and tried to tuck it in quickly, pinching his fat neck as 
she did so. He yelled loudly, just as Miss Penny started to say 
grace. Patty bowed her head very low so the other children would 
not see how red her face was. 

Certainly nothing unusual had happened yet! Petey had been 
just as cross and just as hard to get dressed as usual. The oat¬ 
meal was just as sticky and just as hard to swallow as usual. 
Miss Penny, sitting in her usual place at the head of the table, 
looked just as usual. 


8 


But it was still very early, and there was the whole long day 
ahead of her when anything at all might happen. The door at 
the far end of the dining room opened, and Patty knew at once 
that this day was going to be different. 

The Matron never came into the dining room at breakfast 
time unless for something unusual. Sometimes it was something 
pleasant that brought her there at that hour. But more often it 
was something not so pleasant—some new rules to be read out, 
or the naming of certain children to report to the Office after 
breakfast. 

Some of the children looked up half-surprised and half-scared. 
But most of them became very much interested in their food, 
even though it was just oatmeal, slightly warm and with too little 
sugar on it. 

Patty’s heart beat very fast. She held her head up and looked 
straight at the Matron. She was very proud when her full name 
was read out before all the children, who knew her as just plain 
Patty. There it was—Patricia Eleanor Merriman. The Matron 
never called the children by their nicknames such as Patty or 
Peggy, and she did not change her rule this time. 



“When you have finished your breakfast, Patricia, come to 
the Office. I wish to speak to you. Bring Peter with you also.” 

Petey hardly knew that the Matron was speaking about him. 
He was so used to being called Petey that Peter sounded as if it 
might be the name of some other boy. 

Patty stood up quickly and said, “Yes, Matron,” in a voice 
that didn’t sound a bit like her own. It trembled a little, and it 
sounded high and far away as if she were speaking from some¬ 
where upstairs. 

Finishing a little before the others, she looked down the long 
table. Meeting Miss Penny’s kind eyes, she took her chance to 
say, “Please, Miss Penny, may I be excused? And Petey, too?” 

She wanted to get out of the dining room before the other 
children were excused. She had to wait while Petey finished the 
last few bites of his oatmeal. 

Soon the children were all up from the table and pushing 
toward the door. Patty had already reached it, leading Petey by 
the hand toward the Office. 

Patty was glad the Matron answered her knock at once with 
a cheerful, “Come in!” She couldn’t hold on to Petey much 
longer. So she opened the door quickly and pushed him in ahead 
of her, and shut the door as soon as they were both inside. 

The Matron, seated at the big desk, looked up at the waiting 
children and smiled kindly. Then she finished reading a letter 
she had in her hand before she said anything at all. 

Patty stood still and tried to wait patiently, and pretended 
not to see the scowl on Petey’s face. It must have been a very 
long letter, because it seemed a very long time before the Matron 
laid it down and turned to the children. 

“Patricia,” she said, “I have a letter here from your uncle in 
South America. It’s rather a long letter, so I shall not read it all 
to you just now, but here is what it means for you and Peter. He 
wants you both to go to South America and live with him, and 


10 


he wants me to arrange to have you go as soon as possible. That’s 
all I can tell you now, as I have to go away for the day. We 
will talk more about it tomorrow.” 

Patty knew that she and Petey should leave the Office as some 
other children were coming in. But she didn’t seem able to move 
until the Matron spoke to her again and said, “That’s all for 
now, Patricia. You and Peter may go.” 

In a shaky little voice that didn’t sound at all like her own, 
Patty said, “Yes, Matron,” took Petey firmly by the hand, and 
hurried toward the door. She was afraid she was going to cry. 

When the blue butterfly had seemed to move his wing early 
that morning, she had felt that something nice would happen 
that day, but she had never dreamed of this—a home in South 
America which Patty had always thought of as some far away 
fairyland. She would be with Uncle Nick, who must love her and 
Petey very much, even though they had never seen him. 

She supposed that an uncle couldn’t be like a father or a 
mother, but he was next best, and it would be nice to really be¬ 
long to somebody again. 

Patty lay awake that night, long after Miss Penny had turned 
out the lights and opened the windows. 

Next day, when Patty went to the Office, a large handsome 
woman was sitting with the Matron. Patty didn’t know the 
woman’s name. She knew her only as a member of the Board. 

“Patty,” said the Matron, “come and shake hands with Mrs. 
Harris. She has two little girls and a little boy of her own. They 
have traveled on ships with their mother, so she knows all about 
the clothes that you and Petey will need to make the trip to 
South America. She has promised to help us get what you will 
need. Get yourself and Peter very clean and dressed in your 
Sunday School clothes right after lunch, and we will go down 
town and do some shopping.” 


11 



PREPARATIONS 

After that first day of shopping, things happened so fast that 
Patty could hardly keep track of them any more. 

There were many trips to town in Mrs. Harris’ car. Patty 
had been very frightened the first time she rode in it, because 
all she could think of was that a car had killed her mother and 
father. There were more visits to the Office, but all happy ones. 
There were long talks there with the Matron and Mrs. Harris, 
and with Miss Penny, who was to take the children to New York 
and see them safely aboard ship. 

Patty was very glad that Miss Penny was to go with them to 
New York. The Matron had always been very kind, but she was 
still the Matron; the children in the Home never forgot it, and 
were just the least little bit afraid of her. Miss Penny was the 
one that Patty, as well as all the other girls, really loved, and even 
had fun with sometimes. 


12 



There had been more letters from Uncle Nick, bringing 
money and telling the name of the ship they were to sail on; also 
the captain’s name, Captain McAllister. 

One night the Matron had told everybody at the supper table 
about the children’s trip. The other children were very much in¬ 
terested and asked questions all at once. 

The afternoon before the children were to leave the Matron 
had called Patty into her own room, where the new clothes and 
trunk had been kept since coming from the store. She and Mrs. 
Harris explained to Patty where everything was in the trunk. 
They had been packing the trunk for days, a little at a time. Patty 
had been allowed to help fold all the things that went into the 
drawers. She was allowed to hang the dresses on the hangers so 
they would not be too wrinkled, and even put the shoes in the 
box for shoes—she and Petey each had four new pairs. 

That night Patty was the last little girl to crawl into her bed 
in the dormitory. She had counted the days and waited im¬ 
patiently for this last night to come. Now that it was here, she felt 
bewildered and lost. It had been great fun planning to leave the 




Home and go to a strange new place to live, but it had been her 
only home for a long time, and suddenly the Home and the Ma¬ 
tron and the other girls—and even her narrow white bed—seemed 
very dear indeed. 

Her last thought of all was of the blue butterfly. It was still 
hanging there on the wall. Patty had not packed it in the trunk, 
but would put it into her suitcase in the morning so that she 
wouldn’t have to sleep even one night without it. 

A moonbeam shone brightly through the window just then, 
and shimmered softly over the blue butterfly. But Patty didn’t 
see it except in her dreams, where the blue butterfly actually left 
its frame and fluttered toward her in the silver light. 

The next morning Patty was halfway into her new coat with 
the lovely soft fur collar, when she gave a little gasp. She dashed 
away down the hall toward the dormitory, calling out as she went, 
“Just a minute, Miss Penny. I’ll be right back!” 

In all the excitement, Patty had forgotten that the blue but¬ 
terfly was still on the wall in the dormitory. She couldn’t go 
without it! Rushing into the empty dormitory, she stood on tip¬ 
toe and pulled it down. 

Then she ran back to Miss Penny and asked if it was too late 
to put it into her suitcase. But Miss Penny had closed all the 
suitcases while they were at breakfast; and they had already been 
carried out to Mrs. Harris’ car in which Patty and Petey and Miss 
Penny and the Matron were to ride to the station. 

“Then I’ll carry it in my hand,” said Patty. 

“You might drop it and break the glass, Patty. Give it to 
me. My pocketbook is large enough to hold it, and it will be 
safe there until we get on the train.” 

Patty sighed with relief when the blue butterfly was safely 
tucked away in Miss Penny’s pocketbook. Just suppose she had 
started off to South America, and left the blue butterfly on the 
wall of the dormitory! 


14 



A TRAIN RIDE 


The train and everything about it was new and exciting to 
Patty and Petey, who had never been on a train before. So Miss 
Penny was kept busy answering questions. Patty, who was a lit¬ 
tle nervous at first, just as she was nervous about riding in cars, 
soon felt comfortable and at ease as the train rolled smoothly 
along. 

The morning passed quickly. Then there was the new and 
exciting experience of lunch in the dining car. After lunch Miss 
Penny suggested a nap. 

Patty didn’t intend to go to sleep. It was all right for Petey 
to go to sleep—he was smaller than she. But she was going to 
stay awake. She would curl up in her seat, just lie still a few 
minutes, and watch Miss Penny knit. 

Patty lay quietly, and tried to think backward to the Home, 
then forward to South America, and Uncle Nick. But she 
couldn’t seem to think of either very clearly. 

She couldn’t feel anything but the smooth motion of the train. 
She couldn’t hear anything but the singsong of the wheels on the 
rails; and she couldn’t seem to see anything but Miss Penny’s 
white fingers, moving the shining needles and the bright-colored 
wool. 


15 




Perhaps, if she lay on her side, she could think better. So she 
turned over, fixed her long legs as comfortably as she could in 
the short seat, and then didn’t think any more at all, for she was 
as sound asleep as Petey. 

After the nap there was a second trip to the dining car. Patty 
and Petey didn’t feel as strange and shy as they had at noon. 

Soon after dinner came the rush of getting off the train. Patty 
and Petey stayed very close to Miss Penny. They had never seen 
so many people or so many lights, or heard so much noise and 
confusion as they found all around them in the big Chicago 
station. 

Later, when Patty was in her soft bed in a tall hotel, with 
the warm blankets over her, Miss Penny came in and opened the 
windows, turned out the lights, and closed the door just as she 
had done every night at the Home. 

Patty almost felt that if she raised up her head and looked, 
there would be a whole row of white beds beside her. She began 
to wonder if anyone was sleeping in her bed at the Home tonight; 
and for a moment she almost wished she were back in it herself, 
even if this bed was much softer. 

Thinking of the dormitory and of her bed made her think of 
the blue butterfly. She threw back the blankets and jumped out 
of bed. Running across the room on the thick carpet, her bare 
feet didn’t feel a bit cold as they used to in the dormitory when 
she got out on the cold bare floor. She knocked softly on the door 
that Miss Penny had closed between the two rooms. 

Miss Penny opened it quickly. “What is it, Patty? I thought 
you were settled in bed. You mustn’t run about this way. You 
might disturb Petey.” 

“Oh, Miss Penny! The blue butterfly! It’s in your pocket- 
book. I’ve never slept without it on the wall since the day it came 
from South America. Please, may I have it?” 

Miss Penny understood how Patty felt about the blue butter- 
16 


,.*v 



The train was new and exciting 




;<v 



fly. So she told her to hurry back to bed and promised to bring it 
to her. 

“Here it is, Patty,” said Miss Penny, coming through the 
door. “But where are you going to put it?” 

Patty sat up in bed and carefully took the picture from Miss 
Penny. Then she pulled out the little prop on the back, and set 
it on the night table near her bed so that it faced her. 

There was a small night light on the table which Miss Penny 
had turned on. It shed its soft light over the blue butterfly and 
made its wings almost shimmer as they had when the moon 
shone on it through the dormitory window. 

“Please, may I keep the light on a little while, Miss Penny?” 
Patty asked. 

Miss Penny smiled and said, “Well, just a few minutes, Pat¬ 
ty,” and went into her own room. 

With all the rest of the room dark, the blue butterfly was beau¬ 
tiful under the little light. Patty felt very happy, seeing it there. 

Patty half closed her eyes for a moment to see if the blue but¬ 
terfly seemed to move its wings a little just as it had done in the 
dormitory. Yes, it was just the same in the soft lamplight as it 
had been in the early morning light, when she had looked at it 
through her half-open lashes. Her eyes felt very heavy and almost 
went clear shut—then Miss Penny, coming softly into the room 
after her bath, found Patty sound asleep, with her face still turned 
toward the blue butterfly under the little night light. 

Before Patty knew it, morning had come once more, and they 
were all on the other train now taking them to New York. This 
train was just like the first one, and the day passed very much 
like the day before. Miss Penny had told them they would sleep 
on the train tonight—really undress and go to bed—not just take 
a nap with their clothes on, as they had done yesterday. 

Immediately Patty was very anxious to see how the Negro 

18 


porter would make a bed out of the two seats in her section; and 
another bed up above—as Miss Penny had tried to explain to her 
—only they were not called beds, but berths. 

When they came back from the dining car after dinner, it 
was quite dark, which meant that bedtime would soon be here. 
Patty didn’t usually want to go to bed when Petey did, because 
she was much older than he. But tonight she was quite willing, 
and was glad to hear Miss Penny say, “Well, children, you must 
go to bed soon. The train will be in New York early in the morn¬ 
ing, so we shall not be able to sleep late, as we did this morning 
at the hotel. You take Petey to the dressing room, Patty, and be¬ 
gin to get ready. I’ll call the porter, and have him make up the 
berths.” 

“Oh, Miss Penny, please let us watch him fix the beds—I mean 
berths. Then we’ll go and get ready right away.” 

The two children sat across the aisle and watched every move 
the porter made. He brought sheets and pillow slips from the 
cupboards at the end of the coach. Then, with a queer looking 
key, he reached up and unlocked the shiny, sloping part that was 
over the seats. It swung down just as a door opens. 

Then he worked so fast, they just couldn’t keep track of every¬ 
thing he did. The first thing they knew their seats weren’t there 
any more, but there was a nice bed with the covers neatly turned 
down, and another up above. Both could be shut in with a pair 
of long green curtains. 

The porter turned around and grinned at them, as they sat 
staring at him. Then he showed them how they could pull the 
green curtains across, and be out of sight when they got into bed. 

Patty and Petey hurried off to the dressing room, feeling as 
if the porter had played some kind of trick on them. Why, it was 
almost like magic—seats one minute, and the next—beds with 
warm covers and white sheets and soft pillows and curtains all 
around. 


19 



NEW YORK CITY 

Patty had thought the station in Chicago was big. But the 
Grand Central Station seemed many times larger. It was so big 
and the ceiling was so high that people’s voices echoed in it. 

On the way to the pier, Miss Penny explained that they were 
to travel in the special care of the captain, and there would be 
a stewardess to help them with their clothes and baths and every¬ 
thing they needed. Uncle Nick would also be waiting for them 
when the ship reached Buenos Aires, pronounced Bwa-nos I-ras. 

Patty and Petey were very anxious now to see the big ship. 
The taxi seemed to go very slowly through the streets. At last it 
drove right into what looked like a great big shed which was 
really the pier shed. Other taxis were driving in, and there were 
lots of people. There was hurry and noise and excitement every¬ 
where. 


20 





' : ■ ' ■ '■ ■■ .: ■ 






esp »■; k '»iv' 

SSsi^wt; 




'v>> 7 * 
■■«* ■**■«' 


■f V 


mss® 


The ship was big and high 



Through the opposite side of the pier shed which was open, 
Patty saw what looked like a long building. As they walked to¬ 
ward the open side, Miss Penny pointed and said, “There’s the 
ship, children!” 

“Oh, Miss Penny,” Patty gasped, staring with big eyes, “I 
didn’t dream it was so big! How can it ever start moving?” 

Petey just looked and said, “Gee!” in a scared little voice. 

The ship was big and high, and all along its side were little 
round windows that looked like rows of staring eyes. These are 
called portholes. 

Miss Penny walked with the children to the foot of a gang¬ 
plank, or platform, leading up to the upper deck of the ship. An 
officer stood there in a blue suit which was something like the 
one the conductor on the train had worn. But his cap had some 
gold ornaments on the front instead of a badge with letters. 

Miss Penny spoke to this man a minute. Then she told Patty 
to go on ahead of her up the gangplank, and she would follow 
with Petey. 

Patty held on to the railing and felt as if she was climbing up 
the side of a house. Once she thought she would peek over the 
railing. She looked over but looked right away again, with her 
heart beating as fast as it had the first time she had traveled in 
the fast hotel elevator. For she had looked far, far down, and 
had seen a great deal of water under her. 

Another officer was standing at the top of the gangplank, and 
Patty was glad to see him reach out his hand to help her up the 
last stretch. 

She found herself standing in what looked like a long narrow 
porch with a guard. 

Almost at once Miss Penny and Petey came up behind her. 
They all went through a door and up to a little office window 
where Miss Penny talked to the ship’s purser. She showed him 
some papers, and pointed to Patty and Petey. 


22 


The man called to a woman dressed all in white, just like the 
nurse who took care of sick children at the Home. 

“Mrs. Ryan, come here, please,” he called. 

Mrs. Ryan walked toward them, smiling as she came. As she 
drew nearer, Patty could see that she was much older than Miss 
Penny—about as old as the Matron. But her face was very kind. 

“Mrs. Ryan,” the man was saying, “these are the children 
who are traveling to Buenos Aires to meet their uncle.” 

“Your name, please,” he said to Miss Penny. When she had 
told him he said, “Miss Penny, this is Mrs. Ryan.” Then Miss 
Penny said, “Mrs. Ryan, this is Patricia Eleanor Merriman, and 
this is Peter, her brother. But they are mostly called Patty and 
Petey. Shake hands with Mrs. Ryan, children!” 

Mrs. Ryan kept right on smiling and shook hands, first with 
Patty and then with Petey. “Sure, an’ it’s pleased to meet you both 
I am,” she said. 

“Mrs. Ryan,” said the purser, “show Miss Penny to the chil¬ 
dren’s cabin. She won’t have much time to stay aboard, as we are 
sailing promptly at eleven.” 

“Yes, sir,” replied Mrs. Ryan. “We’ll all go there now.” 

Miss Penny looked at everything in the cabin as if she were 
very much interested. She even felt the beds to see if they were 
soft and comfortable. “What a nice cabin it is, children! I’m 
sure you’ll be very comfortable here, and Mrs. Ryan will take 
good care of you. You must be very good, especially you, Petey; 
and not make her any unnecessary bother. Here are the keys to 
their trunk, Mrs. Ryan,” Miss Penny was saying, and handing 
the keys to Mrs. Ryan. 

Outside in the passage a voice called out loudly, “All ashore, 
that are going ashore!” 

That must mean Miss Penny. She was going ashore and 
would leave Patty and Petey here with this strange woman in the 
white uniform. 


23 


All of a sudden Patty began to sob, as she rushed at Miss 
Penny, and threw her arms around her tight. 

“Please, Miss Penny! Don’t go and leave Petey and me all 
alone on this boat! I want to go back with you!” 

Petey was crying now, too, and pulling at Patty’s hand. 

“Hush, dear!” Miss Penny said, as she held Patty close. 
“Think of Petey! You know a big sister must be brave. There, 
I must go now!” 

She kissed Patty’s cheek and patted Petey’s head; and was 
gone through the door without looking back. 

Patty turned to quiet Petey, who was whimpering and tug- 
ing at her hand. 

Seeing her drying Petey’s eyes, and trying to choke back her 
own tears, Mrs. Ryan said, “Sure, an’ it’s a fine brave girl you 
are then! Come now. Away up on deck and we’ll wave good¬ 
bye to your Miss Penny. With a smile, now, mind you! She 
won’t want to be carryin’ the memory of your tears with her, the 
poor dear.” 

Mrs. Ryan had a very kind voice and kind hands, as well as a 
kind face. As she talked, she was wiping the tear stains from both 
their faces and straightening their hats. 

Mrs. Ryan took a hand of each of them in her big ones, and 
led them up a flight of stairs and out onto the deck. Then she 
lifted Petey up so that he could see over the deck rail—Patty 
was just tall enough. She looked down, down to the strip of 
dark, dirty water, far below. But she looked up again when she 
felt the ship trembling. At the same time there was a deep, hoarse 
blast on the whistle. 

Looking over the railing, she saw that the gangplanks lead¬ 
ing up to the ship had been taken away. Over in front of the 
pier shed a lot of people were standing, waving and shouting to 
the passengers standing along the rail near her. Among them 
all Patty soon found Miss Penny. She was smiling and waving 

24 










The S.S. AMERICAN STAR 



too. Patty felt very glad and important that someone down there 
was waving just at her and Petey. So she smiled and waved back, 
and pointed Miss Penny out to Petey so he could wave too. 

The people all kept on waving and waving, but they seemed 
to be getting very small. Looking down again at the strip of 
water, she saw that it was getting wider and wider. Then she 
realized that the ship was moving out into the Hudson River; 
and that Miss Penny was getting smaller and smaller and farther 
and farther away, until she could no longer tell for sure who of all 
those people on the pier was Miss Penny. Patty kept her eyes 
steadily on the black spot that she thought was Miss Penny, until 
she could no longer see her. Just then Mrs. Ryan touched her 
gently on the shoulder, and said, “Sure, an’ it’s cold you’ll be 
getting out here. Come down to the cabin then, and get warm.” 

They went back down to the cabin with kind Mrs. Ryan. She 
took off their coats and hats, and hung them up in the little closet. 

Petey didn’t have a word to say. But he stuck very close to 
Patty who moved about the little cabin, interested in everything 
there was in it, and wondering which bed would be hers and 
which Petey’s. As she looked more closely at the beds, she saw 
there was something lying on the pillow of one of them. She 
picked it up, and turned it over, and there was her beautiful blue 
butterfly. No, she thought, Miss Penny had not forgotten to take 
it out of her pocketbook. 

All trace of tears was gone from Patty’s face as she showed 
the blue butterfly to Mrs. Ryan, and told her all about it. 

Even Petey was halfway smiling now. He didn’t care any¬ 
thing about his sister’s old flutterby, as he called it. But if Patty 
was happy again, everything must be all right. 


26 



7 



ON THE ATLANTIC 


One morning about two weeks later, Patty awoke very 
early and lay looking contentedly around the little cabin. 
She could hear the gentle slap-slap of the blue water against 
the sides of the ship. She could feel the soft warm breeze that 
poured through the open portholes and made the little chintz cur¬ 
tains swish back and forth, as if they were keeping time to the 
slap-slap of the blue water. The breeze brought a salty smell 
into the cabin, and made her want to breathe very deeply. 

That first night on board ship, Patty had felt a little afraid 
of the sound of the water just outside her porthole, and she 
hadn’t been able to go to sleep for quite a while. 

Besides, it had been hard to feel safe and comfortable in a 
bed that sometimes seemed to tip up and down or roll part way 
over, and then was level again. This motion had been much 
harder to get used to than the steady motion of her bed on the 
train. 

But she was happy and gay again, and the blue waves topped 
with the white foam, looked happy and gay, too. Now she liked 
to lie still and listen to them and feel the gentle rocking motion 
of her bed. 


27 




Petey was still asleep over in his bed, so Patty knew it must 
be very early. 

Patty was glad she had wakened up so early this morning. 
Now she could lie still and play her old game of looking dream¬ 
ily through half-closed eyes at the blue butterfly. Mrs. Ryan had 
tacked up the picture across the room from her bed, just as it 
used to be in the dormitory. 

There were lots of things she wanted to think about, too. 
During the day it was hard for her to think and remember things 
clearly, there were so many interesting things to do and see; and 
Petey demanded so much attention. 

First of all Captain Mac had told her that his ship, the 
American Star, would reach the port of Rio de Janeiro some time 
that very day; and the kind couple named Ferguson, who had 
no children of their own, had promised to take her and Petey 
ashore to see the strange city. Rio de Janeiro, which means River 
of January, was a pretty name. But it was not nearly as pretty 
as Buenos Aires—the City of Good Airs—where Uncle Nick 
would be waiting for her and Petey. 

Then too, Patty wanted to think back over the two weeks 
she had spent on the American Star. She didn’t call it the big 
boat any more, for Captain Mac had told her that she must be 
polite about a ship, and call a ship by her right name. Captain 
Mac always spoke of any ship as if it were a woman. 

If Patty were to remember all the nice things she had learned 
and seen and done since that day when she had waved good-bye 
to Miss Penny in New York, she must stop looking dreamily at 
the blue butterfly, and think fast. Mrs. Ryan would be coming 
soon, bringing big glasses of orange juice for her and Petey, as 
she did every morning. 

Patty remembered how frightened she had been the first time 
she met Captain Mac. He had been very busy all that first day 
after they left New York. He must have been busy the next day 

28 







The blue Atlantic Ocean 


















too, because Patty didn’t see him until that night at dinner time, 
except just one little glimpse the second morning. She and Petey 
had been walking along the deck with Mrs. Ryan, who had 
pointed him out, standing far away at the other end of the long 
deck. Patty had seen only his broad back and long legs, and a 
little bit of grey hair below his cap. 

And then that night, Mrs. Ryan had told Patty to put on her 
pretty new pink dress and had dressed Petey up in his Sunday 
suit with the long trousers. 

“For it’s eating dinner with the Captain himself, you’ll be this 
night, dearies.” Mrs. Ryan had spoken as if eating dinner with 
the captain was a very great honor, which indeed it was as Patty 
found out later. 

Mrs. Ryan had led the two children into the big dining room. 
It was full of people seated at various tables, laughing and talk¬ 
ing. But Patty’s heart was beating very fast as she and Petey 
followed Mrs. Ryan straight up to a table in the middle of the 
room where a stern-looking man sat alone. Mrs. Ryan intro¬ 
duced them. “Captain McAllister, this is Patricia Eleanor Mer- 
riman, and her brother Peter. But they are usually called Patty 
and Petey.” 

The captain had stood up, and smiled as he held out his hand. 
Patty took his hand at once. She decided he didn’t look nearly 
so stern when he smiled, and she didn’t really feel afraid of him 
at all. 

Then he shook hands with Petey too, and asked his steward 
to pull out chairs for them, one on each side of him. Mrs. Ryan 
left them then. 

“Sit down, children,” the captain had said, “if I am to call 
you Patty and the little boy Petey, then you must call me Cap¬ 
tain Mac.” 

So Captain Mac it had been ever since. Patty was very glad, 
because the name McAllister was rather hard to remember. 


30 


So Patty and Petey ate dinner with Captain Mac every night, 
and several times they had been invited to have tea with him up 
in his own quarters on the bridge, where no one could go with¬ 
out a special invitation. 

Patty had soon felt very comfortable at the table with Cap¬ 
tain Mac. So she asked him lots and lots of questions. He al¬ 
ways explained things to her very carefully, and never laughed 
at her at all. 

So now she knew many things that she hadn’t known the day 
she came aboard the American Star. 

“Let’s see now. How many new words I can remember?” 
Patty said quietly to herself, so as not to wake Petey. “The funny 
stairway leading up to the ship is a gangplank. The place 
where people go to get on the ship is a pier. The part that looked 
like a porch at first is a deck. The little round windows are port¬ 
holes. Those little boats that puffed and chugged and whistled 
and blew out black smoke trying to pull the American Star out 
into the ocean, are tugboats. The men who stood at the bottom 
and top of the gangplank when we got on, are officers. The 
clerk that Miss Penny talked to behind the little window, is the 
purser. Mrs. Ryan is a stewardess. And the men who wait on 
the tables are not waiters, but stewards. That platform raised 
above the top deck rail is called the bridge.” 

Patty sighed a big sigh of satisfaction at remembering so 
much. She raised herself up and looked at Petey. But he was 
still asleep, and Mrs. Ryan hadn’t come yet with the orange 
juice, so she could think some more. 

Let’s see, she thought, what has been the most fun? 

There was the day that it was warm enough to run about on 
deck without a coat or even a sweater, and with bare toes stick¬ 
ing through open sandals. 

There was the day the sailors had put up the big canvas tank 
that was the swimming pool, and had filled it up through a big 


31 


hose with clear blue water right from the ocean itself. The next 
day Captain Mac had taken them into the ship’s store, and 
bought them bright new bathing suits. 

One day the ship had crossed the equator. The night before 
at the dinner table Captain McAllister had told them about old 
King Neptune and how he would come aboard and celebrate the 
crossing of the equator. 

“Will he come right up out of the water, Captain Mac?” 
Petey asked, his eyes big with wonder. 

“Well, Peter, I’m sure that when you see him you’ll agree he 
doesn’t look a bit like anybody you’ve seen on my ship. So what 
do you think?” said Captain McAllister, with just the tiniest 
wink at Patty. 

Patty didn’t know just what the little wink meant. But she 
knew Captain McAllister well enough by that time to realize 
there was some kind of joke somewhere. She wanted to ask Cap¬ 
tain McAllister all kinds of questions about old King Neptune. 
But because of the little wink, she decided she would not ask 
questions in front of Petey. For all she knew, maybe this King 
Neptune was another person something like Santa Claus. 

The next day at lunch time everybody seemed excited, as if 
waiting for something. The steward had showed the children 
that morning a notice on the bulletin board down by the purser’s 
office. It announced that the ship would cross the equator at 2 
p.m., and that King Neptune would come aboard promptly at 
that hour. 

Mrs. Ryan insisted that Patty and Petey go to their cabin for 
a nap after lunch that day as usual. It was very hard to go into 
the cabin and lie down that afternoon. But Patty and Petey 
obediently took off their sandals and stretched out on their berths, 
even though neither one could possibly sleep. Patty had closed 
her eyes so that Petey would think she was asleep. Inside she 
was almost holding her breath, listening for something to happen. 

32 



Suddenly King Neptune himself appeared 






She didn’t have very long to wait. All of a sudden there was 
a loud bugle blast, much louder than what the little Negro bugle 
boy usually blew to announce meals. Then there was a great 
clapping and shouting and running of feet along the decks. 

Patty and Petey jumped up and started to put on their san¬ 
dals. Before they could get them all buckled, there was a loud 
knocking on the door of their cabin. They recognized Mrs. Fer¬ 
guson’s friendly voice calling, “Patty and Petey! Come up on 
deck quickly! King Neptune has come aboard!” 

On the promenade deck there were so many people that 
Petey couldn’t see a thing. Mr. Ferguson swung him up on his 
shoulder so that he could see over the heads of the people, while 
Mrs. Ferguson helped Patty climb up on a deck chair so she 
could see too. 

A regular parade was marching down the deck, led by the lit¬ 
tle Negro bugle boy blowing as hard as he could. His cheeks 
were swelled out like large black apples, and his big, shiny eyes 
rolled from side to side, as if saying to the people, “Do you all 
see me? I am the bugle boy! I am leading the parade!” 

Suddenly King Neptune himself appeared! He wore a long, 
red robe draped over his shoulders and tied around his waist 
was a sash. He wore a high, gold-colored crown. He had very 
long hair and a long white beard that hung away down over his 
chest. In his hand he carried a long-handled fork, as tall as he 
was, himself. 

After him came several attendants, dressed much like King 
Neptune. But of course none of them carried a fork or wore a 
crown. Some of them were dressed like women. They wore their 
hair, that looked like ravelled out rope, in long braids, tied with 
bows and hanging over their shoulders. They were so very tall 
and awkward that Patty wondered if they weren’t really men 
dressed up in women’s clothes. 

As the procession passed by, everybody clapped and laughed. 

34 


But Petey wasn’t sure he liked any part of this strange perform¬ 
ance, nor this queer-looking old King Neptune who was sup¬ 
posed to come up out of the ocean. 

Then all the passengers followed King Neptune down to the 
end of the promenade deck, where they could look down on the 
lower deck and the swimming tank. When Patty and Petey and 
the Fergusons arrived, there sat King Neptune upon a big 
wooden throne, with his attendants gathered about him. 

A solemn-looking judge was sitting at a desk at one side. He 
wore large dark glasses, a funny hat jammed down over his ears, 
and a very high, stiff collar that almost came up to meet the hat. 
When Patty had looked very closely at the judge a time or two, 
she thought she recognized him as one of the passengers. 

One at a time, the judge called the names of the passengers 
who were crossing the Equator for the first time. The men and 
boys were ordered to appear before King Neptune either in bath¬ 
ing suits or very old clothes. 

When each man went down to be presented to King Nep¬ 
tune, he was ordered to be shaved by a barber with a huge wooden 
razor and a bucket of flour paste for soap suds. After the paste 
had been plastered freely over his face and neck, and the barber 
had scraped part of it off with the big wooden razor, the man 
was tumbled into the nearby swimming tank, amid shouts of 
laughter from the other passengers looking on. 

This was all great fun to watch! But Patty began wonder¬ 
ing what they would do to the women and children, including 
herself, and Petey who was the only little boy among them all. 

When the judge called a woman’s name Patty was rather re¬ 
lieved to see her merely go up to the throne and shake hands 
with King Neptune. 

At last the moment came when the judge called out in a loud 
voice, “Patricia Eleanor Merriman; Peter Merriman!” 

Patty had to pull Petey along by the hand as he was still half 

35 


afraid of old King Neptune and all that was going on around his 
throne. When the children stood in front of the throne and looked 
up into King Neptune’s face with its bushy white eyebrows and 
long white whiskers, even Patty wasn’t so sure for a minute that 
this was all fun. Petey still hung back and stood half hidden 
behind Patty, refusing to look up. 

Then King Neptune shook hands with Patty and Petey, and 
called out to the people up on the promenade deck, “Let’s give 
a big hand to the smallest of King Neptune’s subjects today!” 
Everybody clapped and clapped, louder than they had for any¬ 
one else except King Neptune himself. 

Patty felt very pleased and proud as she and Petey went back 
to the promenade deck, each carrying a large paper. The paper 
was in the form of a diploma. Patty had seen a paper just like 
hers and Petey’s handed to each passenger who shook hands with 
King Neptune. On the diploma she read in big letters, “This is 
to certify that Patricia Eleanor Merriman has this day crossed 
the equator and is now declared a loyal subject of His Majesty, 
King Neptune.” The diploma was adorned by a big gold seal 
and signed by King Neptune himself. 

Just then Mrs. Ryan came in, carrying two tall glasses of 
orange juice filled with tinkling ice. 

“Sure an’ the top of the mornin’ to you, darlin’s!” she said. 

“It’s hurry you must with your dressin’ now,” she said, and 
she began to lay out clean clothes from the drawers of their trunk 
while they drank the cold orange juice. 

“You’ll be after seein’ the top of the Sugar Loaf soon now!” 

“What do you mean, Mrs. Ryan?” asked Patty. “The top of 
the Sugar Loaf? Why, that sounds just like a fairy story. I read 
one once about a peppermint candy tree.” 

“ ’Tis no fairy tale at all! It’s the Captain himself will be tell- 
in’ you so. He sent word you’re to go up on the bridge as soon 
as you’re dressed, so he can be the first to show it to you.” 

36 


— * “xOt 



w 





,r 


The man was tumbled into the swimming tan\ 


:/ 


Petey stopped staring wide-eyed over his glass, and drank his 
orange juice down in great gulps. He didn’t want to miss any¬ 
thing that sounded as exciting as a sugar loaf that he could see 
from the ship. 

When the children reached the bridge and found the Captain, 
they were surprised to see land quite close on either side of the 
ship. The land on one side stood high up out of the water, like 
a mountain. They couldn’t even see the top of it, because it was 
hidden by mist. 

“That is the Sugar Loaf,” said Captain Mac. “Soon the sun 
will drive the mists away and then you can see to the very top.” 

“Why is it called the Sugar Loaf, Captain Mac?” asked 
Patty. “It doesn’t look a bit like sugar.” 

“The Brazilians called it the ‘Pan de Azucar or Sugar Loaf, 
because it is almost square on top, and its sides go straight up, 
just like a cube of sugar.” 

All at once Patty grabbed Petey’s shoulder and said, “Oh, 
Petey, look! Away up there, see the little black spot that’s slid¬ 
ing right up through the air from the top of that other moun¬ 
tain to the top of the Sugar Loaf. Do you see it, Petey? What 
can it be?” 

Petey couldn’t see the little black spot at all at first, because 
the sun shining in his eyes blinded him. But at last when Patty 
stood behind him and took his head between her hands and 
turned it in just the right direction, he saw it too. 

The children were so interested in watching the little black 
spot sliding slowly up to the top of the Sugar Loaf, that they 
didn’t realize how close in to shore the American Star now was. 
When they looked down once more, there lay the city of Rio de 
Janeiro. All they seemed to see at first was splashes of bright 
color. First, the bright blue water had changed to pale green 
near the beach which was of cream-colored sand. Then came 
white houses with bright-colored roofs. These were surrounded 

38 


by the deep green of waving palm trees. Finally back of all this 
green was the still deeper green of thick trees and shrubs sloping 
right up the sides of the mountains. 

There were so many things to look at all at once that the 
children forgot about the little black spot sliding up to the top of 
the Sugar Loaf. When Patty did remember to look that way 
again, the little black spot couldn’t be seen. 

“Oh, Petey,” she said, “do you suppose it got to the top, or 
did it fall down on the way?” 

The ship was right up against the dock now, and many men 
were coming on board as fast as they could. It seemed to Patty 
that they chattered like the monkeys she had once heard at a cir¬ 
cus. She couldn’t understand a word they said. 

Just then Mrs. Ryan came to get them. Mr. and Mrs. Fer¬ 
guson were waiting to take them ashore. 

They all went to the top of the lower mountain behind the 
Sugar Loaf. There they got into a little car that was hung onto 
a big thick wire. Mr. Ferguson called this wire a cable. 

Then the little car slid right up the big cable over the tops 
of the trees, right up to the very top of the Sugar Loaf. 

When they got out of the little car on top of the Sugar Loaf, 
Mr. Ferguson pointed out to them the American Star below in 
the harbor. It was so far away that it looked like a toy boat. But 
Patty enjoyed most of all discovering that the little black spot 
was really a cable car. 

Back again in the city they went to a little shop where they 
saw all kinds of beautiful pictures made from the wings of blue 
butterflies, just like the one Patty owned. When Patty told Mrs. 
Ferguson about her blue butterfly which her Uncle Nick had 
sent her, Mrs. Ferguson said, “Probably your Uncle Nick was 
here in Rio de Janeiro some time, and bought your blue butter¬ 
fly in this very shop.” 

Patty couldn’t understand what language the people walking 

39 



around her were speaking. Then Mr. Ferguson told her that she 
was hearing the Portuguese language. He also told her that she 
would hear still another language when she got to Buenos Aires, 
because there the people spoke Spanish. 

They ate dinner at a little restaurant before going back to the 
American Star. Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson had quite a time decid¬ 
ing what they would order to eat. The menu was three times as 
long as the ones Patty had seen in the dining cars of the trains 
and on shipboard. It was all printed in Portuguese words. 

Finally, a smiling waiter who knew a few words of English 
helped them out. He brought them a big dish of a delicious 
mixture of chicken and rice with bits of red and green peppers 
scattered through it. They were all so hungry and it tasted so good 
that they didn’t care what it might be called. 

Patty and Petey were very tired when they got back to their 
ship. They lay back in deck chairs with Mrs. Ryan between them. 
They watched the lights of Rio de Janeiro fade away as the ship 
sailed out of the harbor into the dark sea. When all the other 
lights had faded away, they could still see one way up high as if 

40 


;. i> 
tyj-' J#.^*5, 


- *££ 3 ^ •£»>& v- 

«£ .. * 

?£%%&>*" ■$- Mssol&affe Sfc^t^-^v • ; 4 

SraF Swo** £■>?■;. - >2ESwUr&imS?JT J .'i '. 

1 id : ^iPf J <, -•. ■ $. '" ‘ jf/jT .-"cti ’ M^y^' ‘ti v--i'*'' 1 V 

MSa f ? ■-’ S«5*3f ■ i'~*J Zt* ■ •: f*C ‘ Vv ; . 

fsggg 





* »TU ■ 


~*r- •%..***« 


. '■’" ; V: ., 








Sugar Loaf 












it were on top of a mountain. This light had the shape of a 
cross, and Patty asked Mrs. Ryan what this last light was. 

“It is called the Redeeming Christ ” said Mrs. Ryan softly. 
“It looks like a cross far away like this, but it is really a very 
large figure of Jesus with His arms outstretched, as if to bless 
the city below, and the ships in the harbor.” 

Two days more, and the ship docked at Santos. Here Patty 
and Petey were invited to go ashore with Mr. and Mrs. Brown, 
and their little girl. Santos was very hot, and there was a strong 
smell in the air, mostly of coffee. Mr. Brown explained that this 
was because Santos was one of the world’s biggest coffee ports. 

There were lots of brown and black people in the city. Patty 
wondered at their color. Mr. Brown told her that there were a 
great many Negroes and part Negroes here. 

The visitors didn’t stay long in the city of Santos, because it 
was so hot. Mr. Brown hired a car to drive them up to the city 
of Sao Paulo, back in the mountains from Santos and where the 
air would be cooler. 

The road up to Sao Paulo was a fine cement road. The car 
climbed steadily up and around the sharp curves. The road had 
been built right through tropical woods. Trees, high ferns, and 
bright-colored wild flowers grew right down to the road. Birds 
as bright as the flowers flitted through the dark green of the trees. 

Here and there little waterfalls running out of the cool ferns 
splashed down over clean-looking stones at the side of the road. 
As they drew near one of these waterfalls, Patty cried, “Oh! 
look at those beautiful blue birds fluttering over the waterfall.” 

“Why, those aren’t birds, Patty,” said Mrs. Brown. “Birds 
don’t flutter like that. Let’s drive slowly so we can see what 
they are. Did you ever see such a beautiful blue?” 

“Why! they are just the blue of my butterfly. They are real 
butterflies, just like mine in the frame. Oh! the beautiful things!” 

42 



ON TO BUENOS AIRES 

Patty and Petey and the Browns got back from their trip to 
Sao Paulo some time before the American Star was ready to sail. 
The ship was delayed a couple of hours because of the great 
amount of coffee that was waiting to be shipped to Uruguay and 
the Argentine. 

Patty and Petey found much to watch on the busy ship and 
dock, as the work of loading was finished in a hurry. 

There were great storehouses on the dock, where hundreds 
and hundreds of big bags of coffee had been piled up waiting 
for the American Star to come into port. These bags of coffee 
were piled onto a big slide leading from the store house to the 
ship. They slid down very fast, and dropped directly into the 
hold of the ship. 


43 


The first time Patty had seen the American Star unloading 
and loading was at Rio de Janeiro. Captain Mac had told her 
then that the deep part of the ship, away down under the water, 
was called the hold. That’s an easy name to remember, because 
it does hold so much, Patty had thought. She had learned too, 
that goods carried in the hold were called the cargo. 

For a while Patty tried to count the bags as they came sliding 
down. Each bag had the two corners tied into little flaps that 
looked like ears. Patty told Petey she thought that they looked 
like fat pigs sliding along on their stomachs, and pushing each 
other into the hold. 

When the last fat coffee bag had slid into the hold, the chat¬ 
tering men who had been helping load them, all pattered down 
the gangplank in their cloth shoes with soles made of rope. The 
men wore no socks, and some of them had turned the heel part of 
the cloth shoes under their feet so their bare brown heels showed. 
These men who helped load and unload the ship were called 
stevedores. 

When the last stevedore had gone down onto the dock, the 
gangplanks were pulled up and the American Star let out her 
hoarse whistle that sounded more like a bellow than a whistle. 
The hatches had been closed—Patty had remembered ever since 
Rio de Janeiro that the hatches were the lids over the hold which 
are taken off only when the ship is loading or unloading. All 
the loading machinery was quiet now. The ship looked tidy again, 
like a house after housecleaning is finished. She finally moved 
away from the dock and headed for the open sea. 

Many of the passengers had left the boat at Rio de Janeiro, 
and some at Santos, so the group that was left looked like very 
few scattered about the big dining room that night. 

Patty and Petey ate dinner with Captain Mac as usual. It was 
quiet and rather lonely in the big dining room without the sound 
of so many voices and the clatter of silverware and many dishes. 

44 



Stevedores loading the AMERICAN STAR 




Captain Mac was rather quiet, too. Patty wondered if he 
missed all the nice people who had left the ship at Rio de Janeiro, 
or whether he was just tired after seeing about loading the cargo 
of coffee at Santos. 

“Well, Patty, you and Petey will soon be at the end of your 
long voyage. Are you glad?” Captain Mac asked. 

Patty hardly knew what to say. They had become very used 
to their life on the American Star , and very fond of Captain Mac 
and Mrs. Ryan. Yet Patty knew they couldn’t just stay on the 
ship forever. So she didn’t say yes or no, but started telling Cap¬ 
tain Mac about the blue butterflies on the way to Sao Paulo. 

As he listened, nodding and smiling as if he understood why 
seeing the blue butterflies meant so much to Patty, she found her¬ 
self telling him all about her own blue butterfly that Uncle Nick 
had sent her, and about that morning when it had seemed to lift 
its wing, back in the dormitory at the Home. 

The next day was the only unpleasant one they spent on the 
whole voyage. A storm came up in the night. Patty awoke to feel 
something more than a gentle rocking of her bed. Her head 
would be down and her feet way up; and then the other way 
round. Then her bed would seem to roll over. When she clutched 
the little railing at the side, thinking she was about to fall out, the 
bed would roll back again. She felt as if she were riding a teeter- 
totter, and a ferris wheel all at the same time. 

Instead of the usual gentle breeze coming in at the open port¬ 
holes, the wind was howling, and the ship groaned, as if she hurt 
all over. Someone, probably Mrs. Ryan, had closed the portholes 
in the night, and Patty was rather frightened to see great waves 
smash up against them now and again. She was rather fright¬ 
ened, too, by all the noise and bluster, and she wished Mrs. Ryan 
would come quickly with the orange juice this morning. 

Petey seemed to be asleep still, though his body rolled back 
and forth as the ship rolled. 


46 


Patty couldn’t lie still any longer; so she decided to get up 
and dress very quietly so as not to disturb Petey. When she 
started to walk across the cabin, she was surprised to find herself 
running downhill toward the side where the portholes were. She 
didn’t seem able to stop herself. So she was glad the big sofa was 
there, under the portholes, for her to take hold of. 

Mrs. Ryan came in just as she fell in a little heap on the sofa. 
She must have looked very funny, because Mrs. Ryan laughed 
and said, “Sure, an’ it’s not much of a sailor you are then, falling 
there in a heap the first time the ship rolls a bit.” Patty could 
laugh now, too, with Mrs. Ryan in the cabin. Mrs. Ryan didn’t 
seem to mind the storm a bit! 

When Petey was dressed too, Mrs. Ryan walked with them to 
the dining room. It was queer walking in the passage, too. One 
minute they were walking uphill, and the next they were walk¬ 
ing downhill again. 

When Patty asked Mrs. Ryan why there were so few people 
in the dining room that morning, she said, “Sure, an’ nobody 
wants breakfast at all, at all, this morning!” 

Patty was surprised to hear that most of the grown-ups felt 
sick because the storm was tossing the ship about so much. The 
grown-ups were seasick and Mrs. Ryan said that many passen¬ 
gers felt seasick for a few days when a ship first starts out into 
the ocean, even when there is no storm. 

All that day Patty and Petey were not allowed to go out on 
deck, because it was all wet with spray, and sometimes a big 
wave washed right over it. They had to stay in the cabin or in the 
big lounge, which was something like the parlor at the Home, 
only much larger and much nicer. 

When they went in to dinner that night, they were glad to see 
Captain Mac. He had stayed up on the bridge all day, and they 
hadn’t seen him once. He patted their heads as they sat down be¬ 
side him, and called them brave sailors. This made them both 


47 


very proud, and Patty hoped Mrs. Ryan would never tell Cap¬ 
tain Mac about finding her all in a heap on the sofa that morn¬ 
ing. 

The storm wore itself out by evening, though Patty and Petey 
were thankful for the little railings at the sides of their beds when 
they first went to bed. 

All during the next day, the sun was shining brightly, the 
ship was much quieter, and Patty would hardly have known that 
there had been a storm. 

When it was almost dark, they docked at Montevideo. That 
was a lovely long name, and Captain Mac told the children it 
meant, “I see the mountain.” Patty wondered what mountain, 
and Captain Mac pointed to a high hill with a round top which 
he said was called El Cerro. Patty didn’t think it was much of 
a mountain, after seeing the Sugar Loaf and Corcovado where 
the statue of Jesus was. 

1'he next morning when Patty wakened, she found that the 
ship was moving again. She and Petey were out on deck very 
early after breakfast, for today they were to see Buenos Aires and 
Uncle Nick. Patty was very much surprised to see that the water 
was no longer blue, nor grey, nor green, nor any color she had 
seen in the ocean; but a yellowish-brown, and very dirty-looking. 

When she had a chance to ask Captain Mac why the color of 
the water had changed, he told them that they were no longer 
on the ocean, but were steaming up the Rio de la Plata, or River 
of Silver. 

“The river seems to be as big as the ocean, Captain Mac. You 
can’t see any land anywhere,” Patty said. 

“No, not yet,” answered Captain Mac, “because when it meets 
the ocean this is one of the widest rivers in the world. It will 
grow somewhat narrower as we go farther up, but, even at 
Buenos Aires, it is about fifty-five miles wide, and still looks like 
the ocean, except for the color of the water.” 

48 





• * • *V? 


A storm came up in the night 









Patty was rather quiet that day, thinking of leaving Captain 
Mac and Mrs. Ryan, who had been so good to her and Petey. 
She had felt even sadder than this at leaving Miss Penny. But 
everything had worked out all right, and Captain Mac and Mrs. 
Ryan had done their best to take Miss Penny’s place. If they, 
who were strangers at first, could be so kind to her and Petey, she 
felt sure that Uncle Nick, who really belonged to her, would be 
even kinder, so she wasn’t going to think about it or feel sad. 

She was very busy for a while helping Mrs. Ryan get all her 
and Petey’s clothes back into the trunk and the two suitcases. 

When the packing was finally done and she and Petey were 
freshly dressed and clean, Mrs. Ryan looked them over, giving 
Petey’s rough curls a last brush, and said, “Sure, an’ it’s as pretty 
as two flowers you are, for that Uncle Nick of yours. Out on 
deck with you now, as it’s nearer and nearer the big city we’re 
gettin’.” 

All the other passengers were waiting at the railing, watch¬ 
ing the buildings of Buenos Aires grow bigger and bigger, as the 
ship drew nearer and nearer. 

The time seemed very long just standing there, waiting to 
see Uncle Nick. Patty felt a little shy as she wondered what he 
would look like, and how she would know him. 

The American Star drew slowly in, closer and closer. Patty 
thought she had never seen so many ships together, as there were 
all around in the harbor. 

There were a lot of people standing down there on the dock, 
just as there had been in New York when they had waved good¬ 
bye to Miss Penny. 

These people were all waving, too, and they and the people 
at the railing of the ship began to call back and forth to each 
other. 

Some of them spoke English, but most of them called out 
in a language that Patty didn’t understand. Then she remem- 

50 


bered that the people spoke Portuguese in Rio de Janeiro, and 
that Mr. Ferguson had told her she would hear Spanish in 
Buenos Aires. 

The gangplank was going down now, and the people down 
on the dock were crowding thickly around it, all wanting to come 
on board. Patty didn’t have a chance to try to pick out Uncle 
Nick among them. 

By this time she was so excited she could hardly stand still. 
“Oh, Mrs. Ryan, what shall we do? Go down there and find 
Uncle Nick? Or will he come up here and find us? How will 
we know which one he is?” Patty kept asking, as she saw people 
already running up the gangplank. 

“Sure now. Don’t fret like that, dearie—” 

But Patty wasn’t listening, nor even looking at Mrs. Ryan 
any more. She was staring down the long deck to where a very 
tall man was walking quickly toward them. Patty swallowed 
hard a time or two, and never took her eyes off the tall man. 
Somehow, she knew without being told that this was Uncle Nick. 

Sure enough! The tall man came right toward them. He 
too must have known that here were Patty and Petey, even though 
he had never seen them, for he was smiling and hurrying to get 
to them. 

He was so tall that he had to stoop down to shake hands with 
Patty, and even farther to shake hands with Petey. 

His hand was big and brown and strong, and he gave Pat¬ 
ty’s hand a hard squeeze. His eyes were deep blue, and as he 
laughed they wrinkled up at the corners. 

Meantime Petey had backed away a little behind Mrs. Ryan’s 
white skirt, and he stood staring out at this big tall stranger. He 
wasn’t sure whether he liked this man or not, until Uncle Nick 
reached around Mrs. Ryan and pinched his ear very gently. 

“Well, Skipper, there is a dog and a pony at home waiting 
for you. Let’s go! What do you say?” 

51 


Petey didn’t say anything, but he came right out from be¬ 
hind Mrs. Ryan’s skirts, and his shining eyes and wide smile told 
Uncle Nick he was no longer a stranger to the boy. 

The first thing that Patty knew, they had said good-bye to 
Captain Mac and Mrs. Ryan. This was a little hard to do. But 
Uncle Nick made it easier by promising that he would bring 
them to visit the American Star when it came back on another 
voyage. 

And now they were driving through the streets of Buenos 
Aires. Some of the streets were narrow and there seemed to be 
even more cars than in Chicago and New York. They were all 
going very fast, too. 

But it was very cozy for all three of them to sit tucked close¬ 
ly together in the front seat, and be driving happily along. 

Patty’s fingers gently touched the little package she held in 
her lap. Inside was the blue butterfly which had almost been left 
on the wall of the cabin in the excitement of getting acquainted 
with Uncle Nick. But Mrs. Ryan had remembered, and had 
wrapped it up and put it into Patty’s hand at the last minute, 
just as they were starting down the gangplank. 






UNCLE NICK 

Uncle Nick’s car soon carried them away from the crowd 
and confusion near the docks, and now they were moving more 
swiftly along a wide street. 

At one side of the wide street were beautiful plazas, green 
with palm trees and bright with flowers. Here and there between 
the palms, or rising from the center of some bright bed of flow¬ 
ers, Patty caught glimpses of white statues glistening in the sun¬ 
light. 

At the other side of the street were strange-looking little shops 
that opened onto the street and had no doors or windows. Be¬ 
fore these little shops were hanging men’s clothes and women’s 
bright shawls; pots, pans, and baskets; strings of bologna and 

53 





bunches of bananas; birds in cages, festoons of red peppers and 
white onions, and many other objects that Patty couldn’t quite 
see. 

Certainly the plaza side was prettier, and somehow it seemed 
friendlier when she saw the funnel and masts of a big steamer 
rising above the feathery fronds of the palm trees. But those 
little shops with the strange objects and bright colors before 
them and dark-looking interiors were very interesting to the little 
North American girl. So Patty turned first to one side and then 
the other, and for once both she and Petey were too busy just 
looking to ask questions. 

There were a great many cars in the street, all going so fast 
and sometimes coming so close to each other that Patty—when 
she had time to notice at all—caught her breath and wondered 
how they were going to pass by this time. 

But Uncle Nick always came through, and kept up his even 
pace. At the same time he ‘managed to talk to Patty and Petey, 
and call their attention to interesting things they were passing. 
Patty was just about to ask Uncle Nick about the little open 
shops when the car swept around a curve along with all the other 
hurrying cars and Uncle Nick said, “Look. La Casa Rosada, 
or the Argentine White House!” 

Patty clutched Petey’s coat collar and tried to pull him a 
little higher up so he could see out better. Why, the White House 
was where the President lived! She was a little puzzled, though, 
because this President’s house was not white at all, but a soft, dull 
pink. Well, white or pink, a little boy from the United States 
must not miss his first chance to see where the President of an¬ 
other country lived. 

She was glad that Uncle Nick had drawn up to the curb 
across the street so that they could have a good look. As they 
looked at the big building, with its many windows and balconies, 
Uncle Nick explained that the words casa rosada really meant 

54 


pink house; and that this building was just as much respected and 
looked up to among the Argentine people as the White House 
is among the people of the United States. 

So Patty and Petey learned their first Spanish words, casa 
rosada —pink house. They learned also one of the simpler rules 
of Spanish grammar—that the descriptive word follows the name 
of anything. House White, or House Pink would certainly 
sound silly in English, but Casa Rosada, as Uncle Nick said it in 
Spanish, sounded perfectly all right. 

They also had their first introduction to the Argentine flag 
as it waved proudly on the high pole over the main entrance to 
the Casa Rosada. 

“It’s not as pretty as our flag!” said Petey very promptly and 
loudly after one look. “Why, it’s just plain blue and white, and 
ours has three colors and a lot of pretty stars in the corner!” 

Patty looked quickly at Uncle Nick. She wasn’t quite sure 
that this was a very polite way for Petey to talk about the Argen¬ 
tine flag. After all, Uncle Nick had lived in Argentina a very 
long time, and maybe he now thought this strange-looking flag, 
with the two light blue and white stripes, was prettier than the 
American Stars and Stripes. 

But Uncle Nick patted Petey on the head and didn’t look the 
least bit offended as he said, “You’re right, Pete, at that. We be¬ 
long to the United States, and no other flag will ever seem so 
beautiful as our own. But you’ll learn to love this one second 
best, just as I do.” 

“Some dia de fiesta we’ll come and see the Argentine school 
children salute their flag and hear them sing their national an¬ 
them down there in the plaza in front of the Casa Rosada. It will 
be a sight you’ll never forget, and then you’ll understand better 
that the Argentines love their flag and country just as we do 
ours.” 

Petey’s quick ears had caught the strange words Uncle Nick 

55 



had used, and he could hardly wait until Uncle Nick had fin¬ 
ished speaking so that he could ask, “What’s-what’s that 

thing you said?” 

Uncle Nick laughed at his eager little face and said, “Well, 
I mustn’t expect you two to understand these Spanish words I am 
so used to saying, but you’ll soon learn. Dia de fiesta, Pete, that 
means a day of feast or celebration, or as we call it in English, 
a holiday, like the Fourth of July or Christmas.” 

The boy wasn’t much impressed by the Casa Rosada, even if it 
was the Argentine President’s house; and one glance at the flag 
was enough. But what made his eyes grow big with wonder 
were the tall soldiers who walked slowly back and forth before 
the doorway. 

Uncle Nick had started the car, and they were turning the 
corner into a wide avenue directly in front of the Casa Rosada. 
As they started down this avenue, Patty and Petey took a good 
look back at the Casa Rosada with the beautiful blue and white 
flag flying over it, and the brightly uniformed soldiers pacing sol¬ 
emnly back and forth at the foot of the broad white marble steps 
leading up to the doorway. 


56 






Brightly uniformed soldiers 


Uncle Nick was saying, “This is Avenida de Mayo, or, as 
they would call it in the States, May Avenue. You will soon be 
able to see El Congreso, or Congress building at the other end of 
the avenue. So, youngsters, you are riding down one of the fa¬ 
mous streets of the world, with the two most important build¬ 
ings in this great city of Buenos Aires facing it at either end— 
La Casa Rosada, which we have behind us now, and El Con¬ 
greso, which you will soon see facing us, one the official residence 
of the President and the other the place where Argentine laws 
are made.” 

They did not drive as far down as the Congreso now, how¬ 
ever, but pulled up at the entrance to a tall building. Patty read 
the word hotel over the door, and said, “Why, Uncle Nick, not 
all the words here are Spanish!” 

Uncle Nick was pleased that Patty noticed everything so 
quickly, and he explained to her that she would find some words 
looking just the same as in English, but sounding a little differ¬ 
ent when pronounced the Spanish way. For instance, the word 
hotel sounds like o-tel in Spanish, because the h is always silent 
in Spanish. 

A very friendly man came running out to their car and 
opened the door and said “Good Afternoon” in very good Eng¬ 
lish. The children were surprised and pleased, as they were not 
expecting to understand anyone except Uncle Nick. 

Later, when they were in their rooms upstairs in the hotel, 
Uncle Nick explained that the hotel doorman, who had spoken to 
them, not only spoke English and Spanish, but also French, 
Italian, German, Portuguese, and probably a little Russian, too. 
He told them that every big hotel in Buenos Aires had such a 
doorman so he could greet guests of any nationality and help 
them to get what they wanted in the hotel. 

“You see,” said Uncle Nick, “every day there are big ships 
like the American Star, and some much larger even, arriving at 

58 


Buenos Aires from many different lands. These ships bring all 
kinds of people who speak all kinds of languages; and they are 
always glad to find someone at the hotel door who can greet them 
in their own language.” 

Instead of windows in the room there were long double doors 
that opened onto a small balcony overlooking the busy street and 
a small plaza across from the hotel. Uncle Nick opened the 
long doors and told the children they might stand on the balcony 
and look down into the street and across into the little plaza. 
This would give them something interesting to do until he re¬ 
turned from putting away the car. 

Patty took Petey by the hand and together they stepped out 
onto the little balcony and just stood still, holding hands and 
looking all about them. To stand on a high balcony overlooking 
a strange busy street in a strange big city was quite an adventure 
for them. 

First, they were rather surprised to find how high up they 
were. The little balcony seemed to shove them out into space, 
and they looked up first at the blue, blue sky and were rather 
pleased that it at least looked familiar—quite like the blue of the 
sky over the Home on a summer afternoon. 

Then they looked down at the streams of traffic flowing by 
in the street below, and across the street at the little plaza. There 
were tall palm trees with their long fronds moving lazily in the 
gentle breeze. As the fronds swayed this way and that, they cast 
lacy shadows on the gravelled paths that ran between bright 
flower beds. 

Each flower bed was a perfect picture in itself—one round, 
one like a diamond, one like a star, and one long one with a 
sunken pool of water shimmering in its center. Some of the beds 
were one solid flaming color. Others had the varied greens of 
tropical foliage and the vivid colors of flowers woven into deli¬ 
cate patterns. 


59 


There were children playing along the gravelled paths, and 
grown-ups sitting on the shaded benches here and there. Patty 
wondered if Uncle Nick would let her and Petey play in the 
plaza. 

Soon Petey was restless, for he had stood still about as long as 
he could. 

But Patty wasn’t ready to leave the balcony yet. There were 
strange noises floating up to her quick ears that she would like 
to try to find out about. There were strange smells, too—some 
of them lovely perfumes from the flowers in the little plaza, some 
of them not so pleasant, but all new, that made her sensitive lit¬ 
tle nose sniff a little like a curious young puppy’s. 

She was just turning to go in and get him the drink, when 
voices called her attention to the next little balcony. 

A lovely dark-haired woman was standing there, holding the 
most adorable baby in her arms! The baby was fat and roly- 
poly, and had bright black eyes and curly black hair like his 
mother’s. Patty couldn’t help lingering a minute to look at him. 

When the woman saw Patty looking at the baby, she smiled 
a very friendly smile and said something very polite to Patty and 
Petey. Patty couldn’t understand the strange soft words, but she 
knew by the woman’s smile and tone of voice that she was speak¬ 
ing to her and Petey as if they were friends. 

Now, Patty was a friendly little soul. Besides, she had been 
taught to speak politely to people when she was spoken to. But 
now she could only smile and stand there, a very red-faced, em¬ 
barrassed little girl. How could she answer when she didn’t un¬ 
derstand what had been said to her, and hardly knew a single 
word of Spanish to say? 

As she turned back into the room in silence, Patty was sure 
she wanted to learn Spanish right away. 

When Uncle Nick came back she told him of her experience 
with the woman on the next balcony. 

60 



Patty wasn’t ready to leave the little balcony yet 






Uncle Nick laughed at her and pinched her cheek and said, 
“We’ll soon fix that up!” So Uncle Nick took time to teach Patty 
and Petey how to say buenos dias —good morning; and buenas 
tardes —good afternoon; and buenas noches —good evening or 
good night; also Sehora for Mrs. or Madam and Sehor for Mr., 
and Senorita for Miss. 

He also explained some interesting things about the use of 
these greetings. One strange thing was that she and Petey must 
remember to say buenas tardes, or good afternoon up to dinner 
time. After dinner they must say buenas noches, or good eve¬ 
ning. As the Argentines dine very late—eight o’clock or even 
later—that meant she had to keep on saying good afternoon un¬ 
til it was dark, and sometimes until quite late. 

Patty had found it a little hard to get used to dinner at night 
while on board ship, since the evening meal had always been 
called supper at the Home. She thought now it would be still 
harder to get used to waiting until eight o’clock for something to 
eat and to remember to keep on saying buenas tardes when it 
was really night. 

Buenas noches was interesting, too, because it meant two dif¬ 
ferent things—good evening when she was just greeting some¬ 
one she met or went to see after dinner, goodnight when she 
was going to bed or not expecting to see someone any more that 
night. 

After this first Spanish lesson, Uncle Nick looked at his 
watch and said, “Well, it’s going to be quite a while to wait un¬ 
til eight o’clock for something to eat, if you are as hungry as I 
am after that Spanish lesson. So let’s go out for tea.” 

“Tea!” Patty and Petey said together, very much surprised. 
“We don’t drink tea!” Petey added, “Miss Penny says tea and 
coffee aren’t good for children.” 

But Uncle Nick took them to a very pretty tearoom where 
there was music. There were flowers on the tables too, and ever 


62 


so many people all sitting at the little tables drinking tea and 
nibbling sandwiches and little sweet cakes and pastries. Uncle 
Nick filled their cups with milk, and then put in just a little bit 
of tea from his own teapot. 

They had very thin toasted sandwiches with melted cheese in¬ 
side, and tiny little biscuits that Uncle Nick called scones, and 
strawberry jam. Patty tried to find time between bites to ask 
Uncle Nick why he called the little biscuits scones, but there 
didn’t seem to be time, and it didn’t really matter, anyway, they 
were so good! 

Uncle Nick made an odd hissing sound between his teeth 
and motioned for the waiter standing nearby to come to their 
table. The waiter brought a large silver tray loaded with the 
fanciest, daintiest little cakes Patty and Petey had ever seen. He 
was holding out the tray toward the children. 

The cakes looked so good that Patty couldn’t really decide. 
So she said, “You choose, please, Uncle Nick!” Right away the 
waiter very daintily lifted the cakes Uncle Nick indicated, with 
large silver tongs. He laid them on the children’s plates. 

As they walked back to the hotel after tea, Patty and Petey 
agreed with Uncle Nick that afternoon tea was a very nice cus¬ 
tom, especially in a country where no one had dinner until eight. 

Uncle Nick explained that the many English people who live 
in Argentina had brought their custom of afternoon tea with 
them, as they also had their scones. So Patty found out, after 
all, why Uncle Nick called the little biscuits scones. 

“Did they bring the pretty little cakes, too?” asked Petey. 

“Well, Pete,” said Uncle Nick, “I think the French probably 
brought the little cakes and pastries. There are many French 
people in the Argentine, too, and they are very expert with fancy 
cakes and pastries.” 

“There seem to be lots of different kinds of people living 
here, aren’t there, Uncle Nick?” asked Patty. 

63 


“Oh, yes,” answered Uncle Nick. “There are people of 
nearly all nationalities in Argentina. There are many Germans, 
Italians, Irish, and Scotch, as well as English and French, and 
other nationalities too, whose names you would not remember 
so easily as these we have just mentioned.” 

That evening they met the pretty woman Patty had seen on 
the balcony, in the hall. Uncle Nick happened to know her. 
He introduced the children to her, and so gave them their first 
chance to speak Spanish. 

No one could have been prouder than Patty, as she shook 
hands with her pretty neighbor and said after a moment’s hesi¬ 
tation, “Buenas tardes, Senora!” 

Even Petey, overcome with shyness, yet always determined 
to do whatever Patty did, stumbled through the strange new 
words. 

And so a new life and a new language began for Patty and 
Petey. 




GETTING ACQUAINTED 

That night before going to bed, the children had a long talk 
with Uncle Nick and as he said, really had a chance to get ac¬ 
quainted. Uncle Nick lived in the country, or in the camp as he 
kept calling it until Patty asked him to explain. 

“Oh, camp,” said Uncle Nick. “Well, you see, the Spanish 
word for the country as distinguished from the city is el campo. 
English speaking people living in the Argentine have just 
adopted the word and shortened it for their own convenience. 
So you hear them all talking about the camp when they mean the 
country.” 


65 




Many times during their long talk, Patty had to stop Uncle 
Nick and ask about strange words he used. She had never 
thought before how interesting words were! She felt that she was 
playing a game, listening and listening and not knowing what 
minute a new word would pop out of Uncle Nick’s mouth. 

Some of them were great fun to say—such as ferrocarril, 
meaning railway. Uncle Nick tried to tell Patty and Petey how 
to roll their double r’s, Spanish fashion, but they weren’t able to 
imitate him at all, until he asked if they knew how to trill. Then 
both children understood, and started to practice. 

The estancia, or ranch, where Uncle Nick lived had a beau¬ 
tiful name—Tres Lagos, Three Lakes. 

Patty, who had hardly been outside the small grounds about 
the Home before starting for South America, opened her eyes 
very wide as she tried to imagine a place large enough to have 
three lakes. 

But she couldn’t help interrupting Uncle Nick, even though 
she knew it wasn’t very polite, to ask, “Uncle Nick, are there 
really three lakes?” 

Uncle Nick, seeing that Patty’s interest was centered on the 
lakes, stopped what he was talking about to tell her all about the 
three lakes that were really there. 

“One is called Lago Chico because it is the smallest. One 
is called Lago Grande because it is the largest, and the third 
one has a special name. It is called Lago de los Patos because, 
as it is away by itself in a very quiet place, the wild ducks choose 
this lake for a resting place when they are making long flights 
in the spring or fall.” 

Petey hadn’t paid much attention to what Uncle Nick was 
saying. He was very tired, and the new words sounded very 
strange. But he found that he was very interested when he 
heard Uncle Nick use the word cowboy. He was truly excited 
at the thought of living where there would be real cowboys, but 

66 


he wouldn’t try to say the strange Spanish word gaucho, mean¬ 
ing cowboy. He only grinned and shook his head when Patty 
coaxed him to try. But after he was in bed and Patty had gone 
back to talk some more with Uncle Nick, he tried to remember 
the strange word and felt very cross when he couldn’t seem to 
say it as Uncle Nick did. 

Uncle Nick talked on and on to Patty, telling her of life at 
Tres Lagos and of Mercedes, the fat, good-natured cook; of 
Maria, the jolly little maid who would look after Patty and 
Petey; of Pedro, who took care of the horses and who would 
teach Patty and Petey to ride; of Blanca, the white bulldog and 
her two fat puppies who were waiting to be named by Patty and 
Petey. 

He told her especially of Chin-Chin, the green parrot who 
lived in a cage hung in the patio or courtyard just outside the 
kitchen door, and who called out loudly, “Be a good boy, now!” 
every time he heard the whir of an egg beater or the sizzle of 
frying meat. Uncle Nick explained that Chin-Chin understood 
that these words had something to do with food, because the 
English family who raised him always said “Be a good boy, 
now!” when they gave him something which he liked very much 
to eat, such as squash seed or the inside of a green pepper. He 
knew also that the cook often tossed him a tidbit from the kitchen 
when she was cooking. 

Uncle Nick looked at his watch, and then got up and rum¬ 
pled Patty’s hair gently as he said, “Well, I guess we both ought 
to get to bed if we are to see something of Buenos Aires tomor¬ 
row before we go home to Tres Lagos.” 

Ever since coming from the ship, Patty’s blue butterfly had 
lain on the bed wrapped up just as Mrs. Ryan had given it to 
her as she came down the gangplank. 

When Patty first got into her strange bed beside Petey’s and 
Uncle Nick had opened the long doors to the little balcony, the 

67 



sounds coming up from the city street below made her feel like 
a very little girl in a very big, strange world. It was comforting 
though, to see the bright line of light beneath the door of Uncle 
Nick’s room; and to see the soft shimmer of the blue butterfly 
in the mixture of moonlight and street light that came through 
the long doors. 

Now it was morning, and all the sounds from the city seemed 
louder than ever before as Patty sat up to answer Uncle Nick, 
calling at the door. 

“Wake up, sleepyheads! The sun is up long ago, and the 
whole city of Buenos Aires is waiting just for the three of us.” 

By the time Patty and Petey were dressed, they were feeling 
very hungry and Patty wondered about breakfast. She didn’t 
have long to wonder, because, when they opened the door into 
Uncle Nick’s room, there was a large tray sitting on the table. 
Uncle Nick sat beside it, reading a newspaper. 

68 




Now it 


was morning 




He put the paper down and pulled two chairs up to the table 
for Patty and Petey. Patty thought this a queer kind of break¬ 
fast. She saw only large cups, a plate of hard-looking rolls, and 
another plate with several little pats of rather pale butter on it; a 
coffee pot and a large pitcher of what looked like hot milk. 
Where were the fruit and cereal and eggs people in the United 
States usually had for breakfast? Why were they going to eat 
in the bedroom? 

Seeing the puzzled look on Patty’s face and the downright 
cross one on Petey’s, Uncle Nick said, “Well, youngsters, you 
might as well get used to it first as last. We Argentines don’t 
eat breakfast as you are accustomed to it. We have cafe con leche, 
or coffee with milk, and that’s all until later in the day. I sup¬ 
pose you will be wanting fruit. Well, nip into this hot milk and 
bread and butter, and we’ll buy some tangerines or oranges 
when we go out.” 

As Uncle Nick talked, he poured hot milk from the big 
pitcher into two of the cups, and set them before Patty and Petey. 
He cracked open one of the hard-looking rolls, spread it with 
the pale looking butter, and handed it to Petey, at the same time 
inviting Patty to help herself. 

Petey, being really hungry, had picked up the crusty roll and 
set his sharp teeth into it, biting through the outer crust and the 
butter down into the white, moist heart of the roll. He began to 
chew and to watch Uncle Nick’s movements with the coffee pot. 

Looking over the edge of his cup, he swallowed a big gulp 
of the hot milk after the first bite of roll. Both tasted so much 
better than he had expected, that he went right on eating and 
drinking. 

Patty had tried it too, and found it very satisfying. The in¬ 
side of the roll was so soft and fresh! The pale butter tasted a 
little queer at first, and she didn’t know why until Uncle Nick 
asked her how she liked the unsalted butter. She had to admit 

70 


that she didn’t like it so very well. But she felt better about it 
when Uncle Nick told her he hadn’t liked it either at first, but 
he was sure Patty would learn to like it very much, just as he 
had. At any rate, he told her, she must try to like it as all butter 
here in the Argentine would be unsalted. 






MORNING IN BUENOS AIRES 


This strange breakfast was the beginning of a very strange 
day for Patty and Petey, as they set out with Uncle Nick to take 
a walk and see Buenos Aires. 

As the three walked along through the crowded streets to a big 
market, Patty noticed and asked about many things. The first 
thing she asked about was why some of the streets were so narrow. 
Uncle Nick explained that some of the streets along which they 
were walking were very old. The streets were narrow at first, 
because the people of the city had no idea that some day Buenos 
Aires would grow to be one of the largest cities in the world. 

Patty wanted to stop at every corner to look with delight at 
the flower stands which held rows and rows of brilliantly col¬ 
ored fragrant flowers. Patty had only once seen anything like 
it—once she had gone into a florist’s shop with Miss Penny. She 
gasped with delight when Uncle Nick bought a bunch of violets 
and put them into her hands. 


72 





A little green parrot that looked like Chin-Chin 



In the market itself there were rows and rows of all kinds of 
vegetables and fruit. They were almost as pretty as the flowers, 
they were so carefully arranged and showed so many vivid colors. 

There were whole pigs and young cattle, and long strings of 
sausages hanging in the meat stalls. There were cages and cages 
of live chickens that Uncle Nick told her would all be sold be¬ 
fore night. 

All at once Patty discovered a huge mass of flowers. Great 
jars and baskets full rested on a shelf so low that Patty and Petey 
could just walk slowly along and whiff in big breaths of the dif¬ 
ferent perfumes. 

“Let’s go and see the birds now,” said Uncle Nick, taking 
Petey by the hand and starting down the long aisle at the side of 
the big market building. 

Soon they were drawing near to the corner where an old man 
was selling caged birds. Such a singing and trilling and whis¬ 
tling and chattering and screeching the children had never heard. 
It was almost useless to try to talk. Uncle Nick had to stoop far 
down and get close to their ears as he pointed out a little green 
parrot that he said looked just like Chin-Chin. 

In one group were dozens of canaries all shades of yellow. 
Some had green markings, and each seemed to be trying to out- 
sing the other. Big brilliant-colored macaws sat chained to rods. 
Occasionally they opened their sharp curved beaks and let out 
such screeches that Patty and Petey both covered their ears. Lit¬ 
tle blue and soft gray love birds sat in pairs very close together 
and very quiet, as if too shy or frightened to move. 

There seemed to be almost as many different kinds of birds 
as there were flowers, and their colors were quite as brilliant and 
varied. In her own mind Patty decided she liked the flowers the 
best. The noise of the birds was just a little too much, except, 
of course, for the pretty love birds which were gentle and quiet. 

The children and Uncle Nick walked several blocks when 

74 


they left the market, and crossed a lovely plaza, very like the 
one across from their hotel, but larger. Facing one end of this 
plaza there was a tall handsome hotel bright with striped awn¬ 
ings and luxurious flower boxes. 

Uncle Nick pointed to it and said, “There is the Hotel Plaza, 
one of the finest and most luxurious in Buenos Aires. All the 
famous people who visit Buenos Aires stay there. Princes and 
ambassadors, famous singers and dancers from many lands have 
passed through its doors.” 

Leaving the plaza and the fine hotel and the business streets, 
they walked on down a street where there were many private 
homes. Some of the houses were large and very grand looking, 
and others were quite small and plain. They all looked strange 
to Patty and Petey. 

She noticed that the doors opened right off the sidewalk, and 
the windows all had little balconies overlooking the street. “Don’t 
any of these people have yards, Uncle Nick?” asked Patty. “I 
think I like the houses in the United States better, where there is 
a yard, and maybe a tree and some grass and flowers between the 
house and the street. There doesn’t seem to be any place for chil¬ 
dren to play here. Don’t they get tired of being shut up in houses 
like that all the time?” 

“Look through this door, Patty,” said Uncle Nick, stopping 
in front of an open door. 

Ahead of her Patty saw a long narrow passageway. Then 
she understood why it wasn’t so necessary for the front door to 
be closed. At the other end of the passage she saw double doors. 
These were closed, but had glass panels so that Patty could see 
beyond still farther. What she saw was the patio, which takes the 
place of a yard in many Argentine houses. It is really a room in 
the center of the house or running along one side. It has no cov¬ 
ering, but lies open to the sky. 

This patio had lots of pretty green plants growing in pots 

75 


and there were comfortable-looking wicker chairs with bright 
cushions here and there. “What does the family do when it 
rains?” Patty asked, as they walked on. 

Uncle Nick explained that some patios have movable glass 
skylights over them. These can be drawn across by turning a 
crank in the wall whenever it rains or the sun gets too hot. If 
it is too hot an awning can be stretched across on wires right 
under the skylight. This shuts out the sun, making the patio 
cool and semi-dark. 

“You see, Patty, many houses have no yards, but they do have 
patios . The patio is usually the living center for an Argentine 
family. Being able to shut out the hot sun and easily wash down 
the cool, tiled floor, the family finds it the coolest place in sum¬ 
mer. It is especially pleasant on a summer night to slide back 
the skylight and leave the patio open to the moon and stars and 
cool breezes. Then in winter, the sun flooding through the sky¬ 
light makes the patio the warmest, most comfortable place in the 
house during the day. The houses are generally not heated all 
over as they are in the United States. The Argentine people feel 
the winter here is not cold enough to make heating necessary, so 
many houses do not have any provision for heat at all, not even 
a chimney.” 

“Won’t we have any fire in the winter, Uncle Nick?” asked 
Petey. “Doesn’t it really get cold? Won’t there ever be any snow 
to play in?” 

“You needn’t worry, Pete. We are going to keep warm in the 
winter. It gets pretty cold and damp, but doesn’t snow or freeze. 
The newer homes and buildings now have heating arrangements, 
as the Argentines are learning that it is pleasant to be comfort¬ 
ably warm in winter at least part of the time. Some of them, how¬ 
ever, still have an old-fashioned idea that artificial heat is bad for 
the health.” 

While Uncle Nick had been explaining all about Argentine 

76 



What she saw 


was the patio 


houses, he and the children had walked on quite a distance. They 
were now passing a building separated from the sidewalk by a 
wall with a rough wooden door standing open. Patty clutched 
Uncle Nick’s sleeve and pointed through the door. 

“Look, Uncle Nick. In there! Isn’t that a cow’s tail switch¬ 
ing around? What kind of house is that? Why, there are peo¬ 
ple in there, too! Do cows and people live together?” 

“Well, almost, in some cases,” laughed Uncle Nick. “This 
is a tambo, Patty. These people own a cow or two and make 
their living by selling the fresh milk to people living nearby. 
The cows have their stalls at one side of that open courtyard, 
and at the other side of at the back are the rooms for the family. 
People who have little children and want to be sure of getting 
fresh milk bring their own milk cans and have the tambo owner 
milk right into them. It used to be quite a common sight to see 
a man go from house to house driving a cow and milking right 
in front of the door for each customer. However, there are now 
big companies that buy up and pasteurize the milk and deliver 
it in bottles, just as you have seen it delivered in the United 
States. So the cow, driven from door to door is seldom seen any 
more, and there are fewer and fewer tambos. The tambo is an 
odd and interesting feature of the old Buenos Aires that is fast 
disappearing. But I’m sure the babies are healthier and happier 
with pasteurized milk from sterilized bottles.” 

Petey, who had trotted along quite patiently, not knowing half 
the time what Uncle Nick and Patty were talking about, was 
growing very tired. His fat little legs ached. He really hadn’t 
enjoyed much of anything except the flowers and the birds in the 
market. He was very tired of being pushed and jostled by the 
crowds of people in the narrow streets. 

“I’m hungry and my legs ache!” he declared loudly. 

“I’m sure you are hungry, Pete!” said Uncle Nick. “We’ve 
walked much farther than I realized.” He held out his hand and 

78 


signalled one of the many taxicabs moving slowly along the 
street. It took them back to the hotel in very short order. 

Patty was much too tired to talk as they rode back in the taxi, 
though there were all sorts of questions in her mind about things 
they had seen during their morning. For a little girl, she had seen 
a good deal of a very big city, and she felt she needed time to 
think it over. Besides, it was very comfortable just to lean back 
on the soft cushions as the taxi rolled along. 




AFTERNOON 


When they went into the hotel dining room for their noon¬ 
day meal, Uncle Nick said, “We’ll be real Argentines today and 
have puchero, which is the regular midday fare in most Argen¬ 
tine families.” 

First the waiter brought them soup. This soup was made of 
the broth in which the meat and vegetables for the puchero had 
been cooked. It had in it what looked like spaghetti, but much 
finer than any Patty had ever seen—as fine as thread. Uncle 
Nick explained that it really was a kind of spaghetti, but because 
of its thread-like fineness it had a very special name —cabello de 
angel, angel’s hair. This seemed a very funny name for anything 
found in soup. Petey looked at it rather doubtfully, and all Patty 
could think of was the fluffy angel’s hair they used to decorate 
the Christmas tree with at the Home. 


80 




First the waiter brought them soup 


The children watched with interest while Uncle Nick sprin¬ 
kled a pale, finely grated cheese into his soup. Uncle Nick 
offered to put some in their soup too, but they both said, “No, 
thank you.” They were not sure they would like it. 

After the soup came the puchero. A whole platter of boiled 
chicken and vegetables was placed before Uncle Nick. Patty 
thought she had never seen so many vegetables together. There 
were white potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, turnips, onions, 
chunks of yellow squash with the hard green peeling left on to 
hold it together, small kernels of corn, long whole string beans, 
wedges of cabbage, and a few odd-looking, hard yellow beans 
called garbanzos. To give the dish color and flavor, two or three 
deep red, highly seasoned Spanish sausages were added. 

Uncle Nick served the children each a nice slice of the ten¬ 
der white meat and made a border all around the meat with tiny 
portions of the different vegetables. He didn’t offer them any of 
the sausages, because he knew that North American boys and 
girls probably wouldn’t care much for the flavor of garlic. 

While they were eating the puchero, Uncle Nick explained 
how it is made with different kinds of meat, according to the 
taste of the family, or according to the money they had to spend 
for meat. But always it is made in the same way—meat and a 
variety of vegetables boiled together. 

After the hearty puchero they felt almost too full for dessert. 
But Uncle Nick said they must top off this Argentine meal with 
a real Argentine dessert. So the waiter brought a tray with sev¬ 
eral different kinds of cheese in small slices. Between the slices 
of cheese were little slices of a very thick sweet jam paste. It was 
so thick it could be sliced with a knife, and eaten with a fork. 

Patty and Petey didn’t care much for the cheese which was 
rather sharp. But they thought that the dulce de membrillo, 
quince sweet, was delicious—almost like candy, and with a 
fresh, fruity flavor. 


82 


When they had finished eating, Uncle Nick thought they 
ought to go up to their room and rest. He explained how it is 
customary in the tropics for everyone who can, to take a siesta 
—a sleep or rest—after the noon meal. 

“We’re not tired now, Uncle Nick! Please, let’s not go up to 
the room! There are so many things to see!’’ begged Patty. 

“Well, I’ll tell you! Let’s go across the street to the plaza and 
sit in the shade a while. We can rest there,’’ said Uncle Nick. 

“Oh, goody!’’ said Patty. She had been thinking about the 
little plaza off and on all morning, and had intended to ask Uncle 
Nick if they might go over some time. 

Petey and Uncle Nick sat together on a bench; and Patty 
trotted here and there between the flower beds and saw close up 
all the lovely colors and shapes she had seen yesterday from the 
little balcony of the hotel. 

Patty had satisfied her curiosity about many things in the lit¬ 
tle plaza, and soon was content to sit quietly by Uncle Nick and 
watch the cars flashing by in the street at either side of the plaza 
and the people walking through the plaza on the gravelled paths. 

All the busy city noises seemed rather hushed and far away. 
Patty wondered if Uncle Nick would mind if she laid her head 
against his other shoulder. But just then some children came 
into the plaza near them. They drew a diagram in the pebbles 
of the path with a stick, and began to play some sort of game. 

Patty was wide awake at once. She listened to their high- 
pitched, excited voices, and watched their quick, light move¬ 
ments, trying to make out what sort of game they were playing. 

As she watched them, a feeling of loneliness came over Patty. 
She wished she could join them in their play and understand 
what they were saying. 

“Uncle Nick,” she said, quite suddenly, “are there any chil¬ 
dren at Tres Lagos?” 

“Sure thing, Patty,” Uncle Nick answered. “There are Ele- 

83 



nita, the cook’s little girl, and Juancito, the foreman’s little boy; 
and then over at the next estancia are two little Scotch girls, 
Heather and Sheila McTavish. You and Petey will be chatter¬ 
ing Spanish and playing games with Elenita and Juancito in no 
time. And you will go to school here in the city with the 
McTavish girls when the time comes. Just think what fun you’ll 
have together, then!” finished Uncle Nick, laying his hand 
gently on Patty’s curls. Uncle Nick was a grown-up, to be sure. 
But he understood something of the loneliness Patty and Petey 
were going to feel at times, until they became accustomed to their 
new home and made some friends among children. 

“When will we go to school, Uncle Nick? Right away? 
And where?” 


84 



A Gaudio at wor\ 















“Well, not right away, Patty. You see, the school year is al¬ 
most over here now. You remember it was fall when you left the 
States, but you find it spring here. Just as the seasons are re¬ 
versed, so the school months are different. School begins in 
March here and ends in November. So the summer vacation cov¬ 
ers the three hottest months, just as it does in the States. But here 
the three hottest months are December, January, and February, 
instead of June, July, and August. As it is now the first week in 
November, school will be over for this year in just a few weeks. 
So you will have a long vacation, and a chance to get acquainted 
with your new home and to learn a little Spanish. Then you’ll 
be ready to start to school in March.” 

“Why, Uncle Nick, will it be hot on Christmas Day? That 
comes in December.” 

“Yes, Patty, it will be hot, and you’ll probably celebrate 
Christmas and New Year by going swimming. Won’t that be 
fun?” 

Then he got up and suggested that they get the car and go 
for a long ride. Patty took Uncle Nick’s hand and trotted along 
beside him with her mind very busy about many things. She felt 
eager to meet the new friends and schoolmates. But she was be¬ 
wildered over a country where school began in March and where 
she could go swimming on Christmas Day. 

At the big zoo Uncle Nick and the children laughed de¬ 
lightedly at the antics of the monkeys who kept begging for pea¬ 
nuts and more peanuts, and seemed to understand English just 
as well as Spanish. In another part of the zoo two kangaroos 
were fighting. From the pocket of one of them a baby popped 
out its head now and again to see how its mother was getting 
along. But it always managed to pop it back in time to keep out 
of reach of the other kangaroo’s blows. 

There was a short visit to the children’s playground, where 
Patty and Petey longed to break away from Uncle Nick’s hands 

86 


and ride on the swing, merry-go-round, or teeter-totter. But they 
felt too afraid that someone might speak to them, and that they 
would not understand or be able to answer. 

They walked through the rose garden that seemed like fairy¬ 
land, with its masses of roses of every color. There were white 
pergolas with red roses clambering over them. There were 
stately white swans floating on the surface of a little lake, and 
reaching their long graceful necks up to the edge of the pergola 
in the hope of being tossed something to eat. Three peacocks 
walked across the grass, and Patty and Petey stared wide-eyed 
while the largest one spread his long tail feathers into a gor¬ 
geous fan, and strutted up and down before them. 

By this time the children had driven so far and walked so 
much and seen so many things, that both of them were suddenly 
quite tired and hungry. 

Patty remembered about the tea the afternoon before, and se¬ 
cretly hoped Uncle Nick would want tea this afternoon. She 
and Petey were both well pleased when Uncle Nick drew up in 
front of a little open-air restaurant. 

It was not so elaborate a tea as they had had yesterday in the 
city tea shop. But there was plenty of good bread and butter and 
jam, and big cups of hot milk with just a little bit of tea that Uncle 
Nick called pink tea. This really was more fun than yesterday’s 
tea party, for they were sitting out in the open, eating bread and 
jam and watching all the cars pass by. 

Patty and Petey were quite willing to go to bed very early that 
night. Uncle Nick insisted they must, since they had taken no 
rest in the afternoon, and must be up bright and early the next 
morning to start the long drive home to Tres Lagos. 

Early the next morning they said good-bye to the hotel door¬ 
man, whom they would never forget because of all the different 
languages he could speak. 

As they had made such an early start, the streets were not very 

87 


crowded. Uncle Nick’s car flew along swiftly, out through some 
of the suburbs they had passed yesterday; then through smaller 
towns farther apart. Everywhere they saw the Argentine chil¬ 
dren going to school or grouped about the doorways of school 
buildings. They looked fresh and clean in their white cover-alls. 
These were pleated aprons for the girls, for the boys, straight 
white coats. 

When Patty asked Uncle Nick why all the children were 
dressed alike, he explained that uniform dress is required in all 
the Argentine schools. 

They slowed up a few minutes in one little town to hear a 
group of children singing the Argentine national anthem. The 
children were drawn up in rows in the tiny plaza. Each little girl 
wore a big pale blue bow in her hair, and each little boy had a 
pale blue bow for a necktie. With their white cover-alls and their 
blue bows, they honored the colors of their flag. 

And how they sang! Without accompaniment or direction, 
their young voices carried along the glorious strains of their 
country’s anthem. 

“Uncle Nick,” she asked suddenly, “do all the little girls have 
blue bows?” 

When at last they were really out in the country, or el campo, 
as they must learn to call it, Patty thought she had never seen so 
much space anywhere except on the ocean. There were few 
houses, and the land was so level, and they could see so far that 
the telephone posts seemed to grow shorter and shorter and dis¬ 
appear altogether on the horizon. 

When they had ridden a long time through this vast silent 
space, Petey fell asleep against Patty’s shoulder. Patty’s eyes 
ached a little from watching the telephone posts that seemed to 
march ahead of them and disappear over the far horizon. She 
was finding it hard too, to keep track of all the things Uncle Nick 
was telling her about the life at Tres Lagos. 

88 



There were jew houses and the land was so level 





By this time it was nearly noon, and the day had grown quite 
hot. This noonday heat and the steady hum of the motor added 
to Patty’s drowsiness. She looked longingly at Uncle Nick’s shoul¬ 
der. If she were to lean against him just a little, then maybe 
Petey wouldn’t feel so heavy against her. But she mustn’t be a 
baby! 

All Patty’s good resolutions to keep awake could not keep 
her head from falling forward with a jerk that attracted Uncle 
Nick’s attention. He pulled out to the side of the road and 
stopped. Then he gave each of the children a drink of cool water 
from his thermos jug; and after the drink a large piece of choco¬ 
late to eat. He suggested, too, that they get out of the car and 
stretch their legs for a few minutes. 

While they were munching their chocolate and moving about 
in the hot sun, Patty noticed that what had seemed to be a black 
speck on the horizon for a long time was coming nearer and 
nearer. Then she could see two men on horseback. 

When the men came up beside the car, they stopped and ex¬ 
changed greetings with Uncle Nick. 

Petey stopped chewing a big bite of chocolate and blinked 
his eyes and stared. He suddenly remembered the picture of the 
gaucho that Uncle Nick had sent him, and here were two real 
live ones. Petey was to see many a gaucho during his life at Tres 
Lagos. But these first two he would never forget. 

Patty, too, was watching them with great interest. They 
seemed very polite as they showed white teeth in friendly grins at 
the children. But Patty drew back a little and didn’t feel quite 
so sure about their politeness when one of them pulled a long, 
ugly-looking knife from his belt and examined the edge of it 
carefully, as if testing its sharpness. 

Patty, too, remembered this first meeting with gauchos long 
after she had grown accustomed to seeing them use just such 
wicked-looking knives to hack off a piece of juicy as ado, or meat 


90 


roasted over an open fire. The gauchos would put one end of the 
meat in their mouths, and hold the other end with their hands, 
flashing down with the wicked knife between mouth and fingers 
to sever the meat cleanly with one stroke. Patty never got over 
being afraid they would slash too close to mouth or hand some 
day. 

As they got back into the car, the gauchos rode off, waving 
their wide-brimmed sombreros, and calling “Adios! Adios!” 

Petey stood on his knees in the middle between Patty and 
Uncle Nick and watched the gauchos through the back window 
of the car, until he could see nothing but a cloud of dust. 

Both children were wide awake now, and watched the road 
ahead eagerly, as Uncle Nick had told them they would soon be 
at Tres Lagos. “And what a puchero will be waiting for us 
there,” went on Uncle Nick. “There’s no one in the whole of the 
Argentine who can cook a better puchero than Mercedes.” 

At mention of Mercedes, Patty remembered that she was the 
cook. She began to recall each of the other people Uncle Nick 
had told her about, including Blanca and Chin-Chin. 

Petey had been in bed that first night at the hotel when Uncle 
Nick had told her about the people at Tres Lagos. So he was 
looking puzzled now by all the strange names. Patty began ex¬ 
plaining to him each name, one at a time, with occasional cor¬ 
rections or additions from Uncle Nick. 

Before they had quite finished—so that Petey never did know 
who Chin-Chin was until he was introduced in person in the back 
patio —Uncle Nick was pointing and saying, “Look, youngsters! 
See that green-looking spot away up there back from the road 
quite a way? That’s Tres Lagos. That’s our home.” 

Patty and Petey stopped talking at once and watched the green 
spot grow larger and larger. 

“Uncle Nick,” she said, and her voice sounded strange and 
high, “may I have my blue butterfly again?” 

91 



Uncle Nick, who sensed the doubt and wistfulness in her 
voice, took the little package quickly from the compartment 
where he had put it to keep it safe, and laid it in her hands. As 
she held it closely, he laid his big brown hand over her small 
ones and said, “You and Petey are going to be very happy at 
Tres Lagos.” 



It was early morning at the ranch, some weeks later. Patty 
lay half awake in her bed. She had been dreaming of the dorm¬ 
itory and the Home, and in these half-awake moments thought 
she was back there again. 

The sounds that greeted her ears were strange sounds though, 
such as she never remembered hearing at the Home. Far away 
she heard the bawling of hungry calves and the barking of ex¬ 
cited dogs. Nearer at hand a girl’s high, clear voice was singing 
a song which sounded familiar except that the words were 
strange, like none she had ever heard before coming to South 
America. 

She seemed to want to ask the girl in the next bed if she heard 
the singing voice too, and whether she could understand the 
strange soft words. 


TRES LAGOS 


93 




But Patty still liked to play the halfway game. Half of her 
wanted to wake up and ask questions, while the other half of her 
wanted to lie still and continue dreaming. She was so comfort¬ 
able and filled with such content that it didn’t really matter where 
she was, nor what all the strange sounds were. 

She thought dreamily to herself, since when were there calves 
and dogs at the Home? And what girl would sing so loudly so 
early in the morning; or would be allowed to, for that matter? 

A nearer sound of splashing water made her open her eyes 
very wide. Then she stared up sleepily into what seemed a white 
cloud over and around her, and there right over her head on the 
white cloud sat a terrible-looking green creature. Patty sat bolt 
upright in bed, and was about to scream out loud. Suddenly she 
laughed instead, for she knew exactly where she was now. She 
was in her own bed in her own room at home, for it had not taken 
her long to think of Tres Lagos as home. 

94 


The white cloud over and around her was the mosquitero, a 
huge white net that dropped umbrella fashion, from a bracket on 
the wall. It fell over the head of the bed and hung in folds to 
the floor, enclosing the bed completely. There were no screens 
on the doors or windows at Tres Lagos, so every bed had this net 
to protect the sleeper from mosquitoes. 

She was not afraid of the green creature, now that she saw him 
clearly. He was just a harmless caballo del diablo or devil’s 
horse. He was a big long insect, grass-green in color and having 
a thin thread-like neck that looked as if it might let his head fall 
off any minute. He had long legs like thin sticks that moved 
about this way and that, and doubled themselves up into all kinds 
of queer shapes. 

She remembered the first time she had seen a caballo del diablo 
on her net when she woke one morning soon after coming to 
Tres Lagos. Then she had screamed aloud, so that Mercedes and 





Maria and Uncle Nick had all come running to see what was 
the matter. Maria and Mercedes had laughed at her. Uncle Nick 
hadn’t laughed at all. He had explained to her what the green 
creature was, and how he was not only harmless, but really a 
friend to the household, as he ate many other more bothersome 
insects. 

Patty half raised herself up in bed and wriggled her finger at 
the ugly green fellow. She wanted to prove to herself that she 
wasn’t afraid of him any more, and to see him rise up on his hind 
legs and wave his front ones about as if striking at her finger. 
He looked for all the world like a plunging horse striking out 
with his front legs. Indeed, his strange actions had given the ugly 
creature his name—devil’s horse. 



i 

, l rv 

t* > % 






:~-r ^ 

if- £ * : « .; ^ . 2Kis»@r' u* •.: '» - * • * *'•: - . $ • wem \ 



r3 >>'X 


s*(*r 



7;/0 ** 1 5§Sg&5 

V. 

/7 * . if i y 

‘'•iva£vt. 

ym 





jQB 

# 


.-A--' 




JZ-<L- -> 

rJLl&i. 


•,-j 

•# 




•se 


.-<>'*!» S ’ •*' 


€ 


* - * A 

V 1 I 


-W ■ 

Sw 

■’I - '4frjt 



• :• 


ft - .- 

• ’ V ‘i?’ 

’ ' -• Ift*.*.j •• " 


./,■'. 

*;-. 


r v' -W-V 

yjy* SQcW^ 

/ . • ...^'- . . 


* IrM - ; 

- ** 

>, f* x ., 

S 

>'f‘ 

- •« 

v - ‘ V* ’ 

- 4 ^ • 

r -4.\ f*JC^A» 

, V v T-?^'- ! 

w 

It: 

*.- <* •• 

, • 

> * 
7% V - r V 

• • > 
v. 


•NLrr*. -j • 




: 0M 


Patty wriggled her finger at the ugly green fellow 










She lay back in bed to enjoy the lazy comfort of being cozy 
and quiet for a little longer. She recognized all the sounds now. 
The calves were away down in the feed lot. The dogs were bark¬ 
ing at something which had disturbed them or else just for the 
fun of hearing themselves bark, as they often did. Listening to 
the joyous yaps of the dogs, Patty recognized their different 
barks as one recognizes the voices of friends. The girl singing 
was Maria, going about her early morning work in the back 
patio. Patty knew the song well enough to sing the soft Spanish 
words softly to herself. The noise of splashing water was made 
by Juancito, washing down the big front patio as he did every 
morning. 

All these familiar sounds were now a part of Patty’s life. She 
stretched lazily and happily and felt that it was good to feel her¬ 
self a part of the life at Tres Lagos. 

She glanced over at Petey’s bed and was glad to see that he 
was perfectly quiet. That meant he was still sound asleep, for 
Petey was never really quiet except when asleep. He didn’t like 
to lie and dream, half awake and half asleep as Patty did. The 
minute he woke, he started right into action, and never stopped 
until he fell asleep again. So Patty knew her time of dreaming 
and thinking would be over with Petey’s first move. 

The blue butterfly now had a permanent place on the little 
night table beside her bed. As Patty turned sideways to look at it 
she wondered if the blue butterfly was happy to feel as settled and 
at home as she was. Usually it was the first thing she saw upon 
waking in the morning. But this morning the caballo del diablo 
had claimed her first attention. He was still up there on the net. 
Patty really wasn’t afraid of him any more! But he was so ugly 
she didn’t enjoy looking at him, and she was very glad he couldn’t 
come through the net. Well, she wouldn’t look at him any more! 
Why should she waste time looking at a big, ugly, green bug 
when she had her lovely blue butterfly to look at? 


98 


In the midst of feeling so settled and comfortable, Patty re¬ 
membered something that made her stir restlessly and sigh a little. 

“Guess we’re going to have to move again,” she whispered, 
partly to herself and partly to the blue butterfly; “and get used to 
a strange place all over again,” she added, with a little feeling of 
unhappiness and regret. 

For next week Patty was to go to the city to boarding school 
together with the McTavish girls. She wasn’t altogether happy 
about leaving Uncle Nick and Petey and Tres Lagos and 
Blanca and Chin-Chin and the horses, and everything she had 
learned to love at the ranch. Yet she thought with pride of the 
new blue serge uniform that hung ready in her wardrobe. Mrs. 
McTavish had had her dressmaker make it exactly like Heath¬ 
er’s and Sheila’s. Every pleat was creased and basted down to 
stay until the first day she actually put on the uniform at school. 

It would be nice to go to school again, if only she could speak 
Spanish well enough to make friends with the other girls. Uncle 
Nick encouraged her and told her she was doing very well with 
her Spanish. But she still felt a little tongue-tied and awkward 
beside Heather and Sheila who had lived all their lives in the 
Argentine, and so had spoken Spanish since babyhood. 

It was too bad Tres Lagos wasn’t close enough to the city so 
that she could go to school all day and come home at night to 
Uncle Nick and Petey and Maria and Blanca and Chin-Chin 
and her own bed. 

But she knew that was impossible. Uncle Nick had made her 
understand how important it was for her to go to a good school 
where she would advance in English as well as Spanish. And he 
had reminded her of what fun it would be to come home to Tres 
Lagos for vacations. 

She knew she would miss Petey more than he would miss her. 
But she had no misgivings or worries about leaving him at Tres 
Lagos. Uncle Nick would be here. And Maria was so devoted 

.99 



to Petey that she knew he would have every care and attention. 

Well, she would have two friends to start with—Heather and 
Sheila. And of course she would take her blue butterfly with her. 
If she got lonely, she would think back to Uncle Nick and the 
good times she had at Tres Lagos. There was so much that was 
new and pleasant and interesting to remember! 

She would never forget learning to ride—how frightened she 
was at first, even though Uncle Nick took her up behind him on 
his horse, so she could put her arms around him and hold tight. 
Then, how proud she was when finally Pedro helped her into her 
own saddle, and she rode beside Uncle Nick, trying to hold the 
reins just as he held them. Her horse’s name was Estrellita, Lit¬ 
tle Star, because of a little white star-shaped spot on her fore¬ 
head. 

100 


410*11 



Her horse’s name was Estrellita 






Petey had soon followed her and Uncle Nick everywhere on 
his fat pony, which was called simply Caballito, Little Horse. 

She would always remember, too, the strange, hot Christmas 
Day. She and Petey went to bed Christmas Eve, feeling that the 
whole world was upside down. Petey cried a little as he crawled 
under his mosquitero. He complained that Santa Claus could 
never find them in this strange, hot country. Patty tried to com¬ 
fort him and talk to him about the fun they would have next day 
when Uncle Nick had promised to take them on a picnic with 
the McTavish family. 

But, even as she had talked to Petey, there was a big lump in 
Patty’s own throat. 

The next morning Uncle Nick had wakened them bright and 
early, calling out from the patio, “Merry Christmas, youngsters! 
Come and see what I found in the patio. Guess old Santa didn’t 
mind the heat after all. He must have flown down just to pay us 
a visit.” 

They tried to scramble out of bed so fast that Petey got all 
tangled up in his mosquitero and had to be untangled before he 
could get out. 

In the patio a little granada, or pomegranate tree, grew up 
through a square of earth in the tiled floor. That Christmas 
morning the tree blazed and twinkled, a thing of beauty, adorned 
not only by its own red fruit and bright green leaves, but also 
by tinsel and bright glass balls. It was topped by a lovely golden 
star that was lit up by the first rays of sun peeping over the top 
of the house. 

Patty and Petey just stood and looked! 

Mercedes and Maria and Elenita and Pedro and Juancito all 
came beaming from the back patio, saying, “Feliz Navidad! Feliz 
Navidad! Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas!” 

Blanca barked excitedly and wagged her tail and snapped at 
the puppies. Chin-Chin, away in the back patio could hear the 

102 


excitement, and hopped up and down, off and on the perch in 
his cage, and screamed over and over, “Be a good boy, now!” 

There were gifts for everyone—even down to a green pepper, 
wrapped in silver paper for Chin-Chin, the parrot. 

The McTavish girls and Patty and Petey had spent a long day 
under the trees beside Lago Grande, playing in and out of the 
water. They ate a hearty lunch of asado, proudly prepared by 
Pedro, who knew just how to build the fire and turn the meat on 
sticks until it was brown on all sides and the juice ran out. There 
was plenty of crusty bread, as well as fresh tomatoes and cheese 
and fruit. They even had Santa Claus and Christmas tree cookies 
from a big box which Mercedes gave them when they left the 
house. 

When Patty saw the Christmas cookies she understood about 
the many afternoons when Mercedes had worked in the hot 
kitchen, instead of sipping mate in the cool patio. She wouldn’t 
let the children come in to see what was making all the unusual 
and delicious smells that floated out into the back patio. She just 
mopped her fat face with her apron and said good-naturedly, 
“Ajuera! Outside!” every time the children peeked into the 
kitchen. 

When Patty and Petey had crawled into bed that Christmas 
night, tired and sunburned and happy, Patty was sure it was the 
strangest and happiest Christmas day she had ever spent! 

What pains Uncle Nick had taken to give them a Merry 
Christmas! And dear old Mercedes, how she had labored in the 
heat to give them real Christmas cookies, shaping them carefully 
with the Santa Claus and Christmas tree molds, borrowed from 
Mrs. McTavish. 

There were so many other things to remember. For instance, 
there was the first time she had seen Heather and Sheila. Their 
Scotch burr sounded almost as strange to her at first as Spanish. 
But the three girls soon became great friends, and in a very short 


103 



time were playing happily together, all chattering Spanish as if 
it were their own native language. 

Patty didn’t know now how she had learned so much Span¬ 
ish in so short a time. Of course, Uncle Nick had given them 
some lessons in the evenings, but mostly she had learned it from 
hearing it spoken all around her. 

There were the long summer evenings when they sat in the 
open patio with Uncle Nick, looking up at the stars and asking 
him questions and questions until Patty wondered why he never 
grew tired or impatient. Usually they sat very close, one on each 
side of him—partly so the smoke from his pipe would keep the 
mosquitoes away, but mostly because they liked to sit as close as 
possible. 


104 



They sat in the open patio with Uncle NicJ{ 












Sometimes Uncle Nick told them stories. Sometimes he gave 
them a lesson in Spanish. Sometimes they just sat still and watched 
the stars, which seemed bigger and brighter than any Patty had 
ever seen before. Sometimes as they sat watching the stars, the 
sad strains of Pedro’s accordion came floating over the patio wall 
from where he sat in the moonlight in front of his little shack, 
down by the stables. 

When Patty had asked Uncle Nick why Pedro’s music 
sounded so sad, he told her that most native Argentine music 
has a sad strain in it, though much of it was strangely sweet and 
lovely. 

Patty brought herself back to the early morning now, and 
thought, “Well, as Pm not going to have many more days at Tres 
Lagos, I must get up early and enjoy every minute of them.” 

She sat up and was going to push the mosquitero aside and 
crawl out, when she remembered the caballo del diablo. Yes, 
there he still sat, as if waiting for her to come out from under 
the net. She wasn’t afraid of him—of course not. But she be¬ 
lieved she would wait until Maria came with her orange juice. 

Maria would bring a stick from the patio and poke it under 
the funny thin legs until the creature took hold and clung so 
tightly that Maria could carry him outdoors and let him fly away. 

Just then Maria came and opened the persianas, shutters clos¬ 
ing the doorway leading to the patio . She opened them just far 
enough to stick her head in. 

Seeing that Patty was awake and Petey beginning to stir, she 
opened the persianas wide to the fresh morning air in the patio, 
and so called out, “Buenos dias, Nena! Buenos dias, Nene!” 

Patty and Petey were by this time quite used to being called 
Nena and Nene, and were hardly ever called anything else by 
anyone about the estancia, except Uncle Nick. Maria and Mer¬ 
cedes had called them by those names from the very first day they 
arrived at Tres Lagos. So Patty very soon had asked Uncle Nick 


106 





hi 






- 

- *» 


V ■* 


V 

V • 



:* 










Sad strains of Pedro’s accordion 







why everyone at Tres Lagos called her Nena instead of Patty, 
and Petey Nene instead of by his real name. Uncle Nick had ex¬ 
plained that these were pet names, used affectionately and meant 
little girl and little boy. 

Maria brought two large glasses of orange juice which she set 
on the night table, while she went into the patio in search of a 
twig to carry the caballo del diablo out with. Patty had only to 
point at him, and Maria knew what was expected of her. He had 
been perched on either Patty’s or Petey’s mosquitero so many 
times in the morning that taking him out had come to be a part 
of the morning program, like having a bath or brushing one’s 
teeth. 

With the caballo del diablo banished for the day, Maria 
pulled the mosquiteros from the beds and tied them up at the 
heads, out of the way. 

Patty and Petey sat up in bed and sipped the cool orange juice 
slowly, as they laughed and chatted with Maria. Patty loved 
drinking the big glasses of orange juice, squeezed from oranges 
right off the tree. Even now as she sipped her juice, she could 
look out and see the top of the orange tree over the patio wall. 
There were hundreds of oranges on the tree, so many that Uncle 
Nick and Pedro had to prop up the branches so they would not 
break under the weight of the fruit. 

When they had finished the orange juice, the children 
dressed quickly, with Maria’s help, and went out into the freshly 
washed patio. There a small table was spread with a clean cloth. 
Maria brought big cups of hot milk barely colored with coffee, 
and crusty rolls and pats of sweet, pale butter. Patty had learned 
to like the South American butter just as Uncle Nick had told 
her she would, that first morning in the hotel. Uncle Nick had 
had his cafe con leche very early and was out at work in the field. 

As the children ate, Maria stood nearby, sucking on her mate 
tube. This was a process the children never tired of watching. 

108 



Maria brought two large glasses of orange juice 












They had even tried it themselves, but didn’t really like it. Mate 
is a sort of tea, made from the dried leaves of a herb. The Argen¬ 
tine people are very fond of mate, which they make like tea. A 
few of the dried leaves are placed in the mate gourd and boiling 
water poured over them. 

The mate gourd is a real gourd, with the inside scooped out, 
and dried and polished on the outside. Through the open end a 
metal tube is thrust. The tube has fine holes in the lower bulging 
end to hold back the leaves, while the liquid is sucked up through 
the tube. 

At first this seemed a very strange custom to the children, but 
now it was part of the early morning program to see Mercedes 
and Maria carrying their mate gourds about with them. They 
liked, too, to sit quietly in the patio in the late afternoon when 
their work was finished, filling and refilling the gourds with boil¬ 
ing water and sucking the refreshing mate slowly through the 
tube. 

Sometimes in the afternoon, if Uncle Nick was not too busy 
or too far away from the house, he liked to come in and have 
mate, too. He preferred to drink his from a cup, like tea. Some¬ 
times the children drank mate, too, with Uncle Nick. When they 
put milk and plenty of sugar in it, it didn’t taste bad. But still they 
had not yet learned to like it. 


110 



Uncle Nick laughed at them and said they wouldn’t be real 
Argentines until they learned to like mate. He was sure they 
would some day, just as they had learned to like the pale, unsalted 
butter, the cafe con leche, and the noonday puchero. 

Petey gulped his cafe con leche down quickly this morning 
and was off to play with Blanca and her puppies, and then to 
the stables to see what Juancito was doing. 

But Patty sat long at the little table in the patio, munching 
her crusty roll spread generously with the delicious sweet butter, 
and sipping from her big cup. All the while she was thinking 
and daydreaming about a great many things. 

Everything at Tres Lagos seemed so much a part of her life 
now that when she thought back to the Home, her life there 
seemed like a dream. But when she tried to think forward to 
school and a new life away from Tres Lagos, that seemed even 
more unreal. 

Here and now were the only real things; the fresh morning 
breeze stirring the corners of the tablecloth and shaking perfume 
from the clusters of wisteria that hung over the patio wall; the 
little granada tree, that had helped make them such a Merry 
Christmas; Blanca stretched full length in the sun, seemingly un¬ 
aware of the two fat puppies that played and scrambled over and 
around her; the shrill call of Chin-Chin from the back patio; the 

111 



clatter of pots and pans from the kitchen, where Mercedes bus¬ 
tled busily about; the thin high voice of little Elenita, singing a 
Spanish lullaby to her doll. 

Back of all these sights and sounds, once so new and strange, 
now so dear and familiar, was the reassuring thought of Uncle 
Nick—so strong, so kind, so sure, that he seemed to fill the place 
of Mother and Daddy and Uncle, too. 

The blue butterfly Uncle Nick had sent her so long ago had 
been like a promise of happiness to Patty, as it hung day after 
day, a splash of lovely color, on the bare dormitory wall. 

Patty would never forget that morning when the blue butter¬ 
fly had seemed to lift its delicate wing as if to mark that day 
as the beginning of Patty’s long-promised happiness. 










r 


I 






Ml 

tin 


v,- j 0 




1 

* 

* 

> 
















































tn’Hiuii 




S<4pi 




li«l >'v ,■>••■ 


i:r. >:».•? 


(- 'ilVVAJ ‘ . 

Iff 






•r. 


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 


1: !‘ 



I* Jj 

P 


LI- , 11 i i 1 





■ • •. 1 .» 


' IJviMI 


DDQEH 7 SflD 3 S 


l !•. : !! i, :t OV 


< >s,» * 


;r A.'. * . • 




ijj t.-'i*! 




a., » *a a* . 




*■ iV', : \ 

,‘if \ kK\ .*•».■}.',irv<taV 

I * • • I ' * ***•’ ’ r v’ !* * ‘ * *, . »*•*#». .• • 

i: .• . ■ . ■ . . 

«*» / • »>. intMiiiihilrv' >' » 

% ■ • * • . ••• • • • ♦ 4 * ] i \ t • - ■ 1 -• * - » 

... 

;... .a:.-.:::; 

• ilww 

i..«..i.....•...>.it \.i I'.i.i.> .•.< .. . 


• •• •• •*■*’• ij.» ’lj ' •? ji ’• 

i » I • 1 1 1 it. 11 li%» , 

. 

■.v: :'. v.\V.; :uj.; 

! ’;i 'i 

1 * v : ■::: ; i -• ? .• ? .ri v; : ‘ 

•If ‘ : orr;-;*‘'ir :. 

•;-r.• • ;•*».’ .•••;.• :•; 

.a .Mr , f .!« M , J .»,• » ' » -17* • * • 

• • • • f. *• «k I 0 I f «al# 1 /.#»! 

#:iv 'f'{G'jN*v:j*.s:,- |r»r:i•! i»t v.•: t»v 

4»» M •* . I«. I.!..* II*. tl * *• O f | . ./•»<■#'. r • • • ^ % • .. •. • . • a . u •. « . I , M . < .1 

V.i \i ■; ' : i 

‘ . I • ’ . 

• ’••• ' if; Um : r - : : 

- . • . 1 * 1 ... / • I i I . .. * J - .»> f 

, • , 


' 


ill 2 ;V' t.siiit*>.* t Vii»( **.i*\ii .. ' 

— .*! >Wl. •• W • ; • .. 1 • .......... 


.j.n:w•.:• r-* 


l 1 • * 1*1 Wl» 


:»..r;• 


>J"(j»{.'!• "«»t 'IIP <|{3ml. Ifi V”' • • •••Nil i • 

■ ' 

\ V. *V». 

> • a f • I • • • 

• . » a • • » «. I a • • • a • I . »• • -a • •'••• « 

• • . • • t t i > * • •* y • i 

v.mJj.--.. :^r,IK.; I.! 




I.;;;.!.>..• 


»* 4 . - •• 


’• i>.' J ’. • >< ■ r ii i p r 

... .ri*-\v..rr..:.v 

ft;uv *'.. 

......i........... ., 

. 

.»...I*.* r> 




iiij :•.! 




















































































































































































































































































